Longford's senior citizens spread Christmas cheer with shoebox appeal

MEMBERS of Hillside Senior Citizens Club in Ballinalee have been spreading festive goodwill by preparing shoeboxes for the annual shoe box appeal, helping to bring a little Christmas cheer to those in need.

This is the first time the club has been involved in the anuual show box appeal.

Carmel Reynolds who helps run the club said she thought it would be a good idea to keep the senior citizens active and to help the less fortunate. “At the moment I have my 20 shoe boxes ready to go to Granard.”

She added that when the senior citizens saw the boxes full of items, they were “absolutely thrilled.”

Carmel is hopeful that other local groups will soon follow suit and get involved in the shoe box appeal. “I go to these meetings once a month where all these clubs come together so they'll see this and maybe they all might start doing a little thing like that next year... It just was kind of an idea of helping people,” she explained.

Hillside Senior Citizens Club meet every second Wednesday from 11am to 1pm in Currycahill Hall, Ballinalee.

They enjoy informative talks, exercise classes, dinners, music, dancing, cultural and educational trips, ecumenical services and a Christmas party.

“We do as much as we can to keep them active and keep it interesting,” noted Carmel.

The local woman also highlighted that the club relies on donations as it receives little funding. “We used to get a little bit of funding for transport, but now it's so difficult to get any funding.”