Padraig Keegan, President of Kilkenny Lions Club, distributed the proceeds raised from the Christmas Hamper Appeal and other recent fund-raising events to local organisations at a presentation in St. Canices Cathedral on Wednesday 7th December.
Amongst those local organisations that benefitted were:
St. Vincent De Paul
Kilkenny Social Services
Church of Ireland
Good Shepherd Centre
This year’s appeal was a tremendous success and he thanked the Kilkenny People and KCLR for giving so much of their time and resources in supporting the various Lions events.
He thanked the people of Kilkenny, both business and community, who contributed so generously and participated in this year’s appeal.
He also thanked the Moore family for use of their shop in Parliament Street as a collection point for Auction items.
He thanked all fellow members of Kilkenny Lions Club for their hard work and commitment over the year and in particular the past few hectic weeks in preparation for recent events.
Finally he thanked all of this year sponsors and in particular a number who make significant monetary contributions, namely State Street, Country Style Meats and Davy Private Clients, and hoped they will continue to support Kilkenny Lions into the future.
Other successful fund raising events were – The Wine Fair, Schools Concert, Street Collection and Carol Singing at the Rivercourt Hotel and Padraig thanked everybody for their participation and support.
This Christmas will again be extremely difficult for so many in our community and Kilkenny Lions hope that the money raised (circa €25k ) will assist in reducing the hardship some families are facing across Kilkenny City and County.
He concluded by saying it was truly a great team effort and wished everybody a Happy Xmas and New Year.
On behalf of the recipients, Kevin Donohue Area President of the St. Vincent de Paul in Kilkenny thanked the President and his colleagues in the Lions Club in Kilkenny for their support again this year. The Lions Club Hamper Appeal each year has been a great source of income giving us vouchers that we distribute to needy people and enable us to help meet the many demands placed on us at Christmas time.
The vouchers are distributed to over 20 St. Vincent de Paul Conferences in County Kilkenny.
This year demand is as high as ever. Despite some improvement in the economy there are still many families left behind. The main problems are winter heating, serious illness in families, school and college costs, high rents, scarcity of rented accommodation, and very often shortage of food.
All cases are evaluated and help given from our resources. Our volunteers work hard to ensure that no family is left short of basic needs at Christmas. As Area President, I again on behalf of all the recipients , thank the Lions Club who work so hard at fundraising each year in conjunction with KCLR and Kilkenny People
