Galway woman’s initiative sees outpouring of gifts for nursing home residents

When Caherlistrane resident Geraldine Monaghan posted on Facebook to seek out donations for a number of nursing home residents in the locality, she had no idea that just three weeks later, she would be coordinating the delivery of almost 10,000 care packs to nursing homes up and down the country.

Spurred on by An Post’s initiative allowing people to send post or small packages to nursing home residents for free, Geraldine says despite not having anybody belonging to her in a care facility, she felt compelled to send something in recognition of the tough year residents and staff had endured.

“I rang two of the nursing homes near me and asked would any of them be open to me sending something.

“I put a post on Facebook asking people to contact me because I had a few names of residents people could send something to – that post was shared over 900 times and got something like 1,000 likes. It just exploded,” laughs Geraldine.

After responding to countless messages and trying to connect people with facilities and residents, Geraldine’s friend Stephen Griffin came on board.

“Stephen said to me, ‘you can’t keep going through all these messages’, so he set up a website for it,” she says.

The website is carepack.ie, and on there, there are hundreds of nursing homes the length and breadth of Ireland that anybody who wishes can select.

Once selected, the donor is emailed the first name of their recipient and thanks to An Post’s initiative, postage is free for whatever gift they choose, provided it’s under 2kg.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now.

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