The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
THE Redemptorist Christmas hamper appeal for 2022 has been launched with 2022 marking the 50th year of the initiative.
Fr Seamus Enright of the Redemptorists estimates that approximately 300,000 Christmas hampers have been distributed since 1972.
Speaking at the launch of this year’s Christmas hamper appeal, Fr Enright commented that none of this would have been possible without the extraordinary generosity of the people of limerick and the surrounding areas.
The aim this year and over the past 50 years has been a very simple one: food on every table in the Limerick and the Mid-West area at Christmas.
And 2022 promises to be a challenging Christmas for many with demand for hampers up 15% and the cost of those same hampers up 11%. According to the CSO, some 8% of people in the Mid-West experience food poverty, a figure that was surveyed before the impact of the current cost of living crisis.
“We are depending on people’s generosity again this year,” said Fr Enright. “Christmas 2022 is going to be a particularly challenging one. Children go to school hungry every morning. People go to bed hungry every night. Older people have to decide between having something to eat and lighting a fire. Please help us to help others at Christmas. Every little helps.”
Fr Enright and friends will be collecting in downtown Limerick on December 17 and at Dunnes in the Jetland Centre on December 23. The Christmas hamper donation centre will be open at the Redemptorists from Monday to Saturday, 9.30am to 4pm. Donate online at www.redshampers.ie
Send donations to Fr Seamus Enright at the Redemptorists. Please make cheques payable to the Redemptorist Perpetual Help Fund.
