Press Release December 26th 2018
Pro Cathedral asks for Unwanted Gifts for Homeless
Before you start looking for the gift receipts to exchange unwanted Christmas presents , why not put them to good use by donating any them to the homeless?
Staff at St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral in Dublin are urging people not to return or store up unwanted Christmas gifts this week – but to bring them to the Pro Cathedral where staff will collect them for Crosscare. Crosscare take the gifts left at the Cathedral and redistribute them throughout the year to people in their homeless services and family hub.
Yesterday, hundreds of people without families or friends to spend Christmas with received gifts from Crosscare staff that were unwanted and donated this time last year.
Crosscare is the social care agency of the Archdiocese of Dublin and staff have been working round the clock over Christmas supporting homeless people in their six residential services, which this year includes the hub for families in Drumcondra. Their services range from emergency accommodation, short-term housing with support services to help people make the transition to finding and keeping their own home. Unfortunately, demand for their services continued to increase throughout 2018.
Michael Mc Donagh of Crosscare thanked Fr. Kieran Mc Dermott and the staff of the Pro Cathedral for the extra effort that goes into the Unwanted Gifts appeal at what is one of the busiest times of the year for the Pro
“This simple idea has grown over the years and it is such a pleasure for our staff to be able to bring that small bit of extra cheer to people in our services with who struggle at this time of the year.
On behalf of all in Crosscare, Michael also thanked parishioners in the Archdiocese of Dublin for their extraordinary generosity at the start of the month when an incredible 60 tonnes of non-perishable food was collected for distribution to families in need at Christmas. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin launched the appeal on the first weekend in December. As a result, Crosscare was able to distributed hampers which consisted of 24,000 meals to those who need it most. 120 volunteers gave their time to sort the food collected from parishes in Crosscare’s main foodbank in Glasnevin, ensuring hampers were delivered to families on time.
Unwanted presents can be brought to the crib in the Pro Cathedral until January 6th.
- Opening hours for the Pro Cathedral over the coming days are available here
