Like everyone else, the Society of Vincent de Paul has witnessed the impact of the Covid pandemic over the past 9 months.
The local St Patrick’s conference based in Wicklow town has seen first hand the added stress and strain that has overwhelmed many.
However, as the society approaches Christmas, which is normally the busiest time of the year, it is faced with an unprecedented challenge – all fundraising events have been cancelled.
As a result of Covid-19 restrictions, the church collections normally held throughout the year and again pre-Christmas have been cancelled.
Furthermore the annual Christmas street collection which saw volunteers holding buckets on every street corner of Wicklow town cannot go ahead.
This has a huge impact on the already depleted funds and the local conference has had to come up with a new approach for 2020.
This year the Wicklow Town SVP conference are asking people to donate directly in one of the following ways, with all monies donated to be used in Wicklow town only.
Fr Donal has very kindly offered to help by making SVP donation envelopes available in St Patrick’s Church and the Parish Office. People can simply drop in to the church where envelopes are on display and hand into the Parish office adjacent to the church between Monday to Friday from 10am-12pm. These envelopes will be collected daily by our volunteers.
For those who wish to donate online, there are two options:
For credit card transactions you can go to https://www.svp.ie/stpatrickswicklow to make a donation directly to St Patrick’s Conference Wicklow.
For those who prefer to make a bank transfer, particularly companies, please use the following:
– BIC: BOFIIE2D
– IBAN: IE73 BOFI 9067 3411 0130 34.
Receipts can be provided for individuals and corporate donations that go via the bank.
The conference can be contacted at 086 7314589 or svpwicklow@gmail.com.
The people of Wicklow have always been so generous to the SVP Christmas Appeal; this enables the local conference to help around 200 families in the local community at Christmas with vouchers for food.
These vouchers in turn benefit the local supermarkets and butchers thereby supporting the ‘shop local’ ethos for jobs and businesses within the town.
Ann Marie Lally, Secretary for the St Patrick’s Conference said: “As Christmas is such a special time, we can assure you it is not a happy one for everyone. Even though 2020 is a year we all might like to forget, let’s not forget those less fortunate in our small town and with your help we can still make Christmas 2020 one to cherish and remember.”
For any person who may be looking for a helping hand themselves this Christmas, please call 01 8550022 or by going to www.svp.ie to seek assistance.
All requests are treated in full confidence by the local conference.
