St Joseph’s Foróige Club presents care packs to Streamstown post office

St Joseph's Foróige Club in Streamstown recently participated in the care pack initiative set up by Geraldine Monaghan and Stephen Griffin. Foróige members created care packages for elderly people across Ireland in nursing homes and care homes.

The committee put the idea of care packs to the members of the club and everyone agreed that it was a nice idea as many of the members know of someone in a nursing home and have elderly granparents. Members thought that residents who agreed to the care pack initiative might like to receive a gift as they may be lonely this season and may not have family to spend Christmas with or receive gifts from.

Carepack.ie is a kindness initiative that connects residents in a nursing home, care home or other care facility with a kind volunteer who writes to them and sends them a gist for Christmas. An Post provides free postage of parcels under one kilogram or less for this initiative.

Each member who participated was assigned an elderly person to provide a care pack for. One of the leaders organised this through the carepack.ie website. Participating members were linked with people from many different nursing homes across the country including counties Westmeath, Longford, Donegal, Dublin, Cork and Limerick.

The final stage of the project included the packaging and wrapping of the care packs in Horseelap/Streamstown Community Centre on Friday, December 9. The parcels were then presented by participating members of Foróige to Helena Connell from Streamstown Post Office.

Foróige is a youth development organisatiion set up across many communities in Ireland for teenagers. St Joseph's Foróige Club in Streamstown has over 40 members and meets every Friday night at Horseleap/Streamstown Community Centre for fun activities that often include trips.