ARDARA Helping Homeless volunteers Gerard McHugh and Daniel Moy travelled to Dublin on Monday with a bus load of essential food items to distribute to the homeless and less fortunate.
The pair spent a few hours on O’Connell Street on Monday evening helping to distribute food parcels which had been gathered in Donegal over the weekend.
“It was a tough evening and those memories will stay with me for a long time. There’s a great team in Dublin working hard to help the homeless and less fortunate and they were extremely grateful for our support,” Gerard McHugh said.
A local bus operator, Mr McHugh loaded his Ford Transit van from floor to ceiling with essential food items which had been collected in Ardara on Sunday before driving to Dublin.
Items distributed includes soft drinks, bottled water, chocolate bars, crisps and tea/coffee.
“It was an idea that Gerard came up with after speaking to a fellow bus operator in Cavan so we set up Ardara Helping Homeless in conjunction with the Helping our Homeless charity” Daniel Moy said.
“We took out the seats in Gerard’s bus and filled it with items we collected on the Sunday. We have another half load surplus and in a few weeks time we’ll do another collection and take that to Dublin.
“We drove up to the GPO yesterday (Monday) and distributed some of the items collected while they decided to hold some back until next Monday’s soup kitchen.
“It would make you think and was a real eye opener. It wasn’t that everybody that was coming was homeless but for some it’s either a case of pay rent or eat. There were all ages queuing there last night, from children right up to pensioners. It was a bitterly cold night,” he said.
“When Gerard approached me I was only too happy to help out. It’s a very simple thing to do in the times that’s in it. We just asked for food items and Sunday’s collection was done in a safe and socially distant manner adhering to Covid 19 guidelines.
Gerry Maguire and Declan Gallagher also helped with the collection.
“We had a table out and most of the people didn’t even get out of their cars. They just pointed to the boot and we took the stuff out and divided it between boxes to take to Dublin.
“We had cars from as far up as Glenfin and down to Killybegs and all surrounding areas in between. We got great support,” he said.
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