Christmas Gifts For Children In Direct Provision

My husband and I live in Monasterevin right in the Kildare/Laois border, directly across from a Direct Provision centre called the Hazel Hotel. We are fundraising for Christmas gifts for the 35 children living in the centre. We understand that at Christmastime we are pulled in every direction but if you’ll take a moment to consider what we’ve learned...While we’ve been visiting with people at the Hazel, we have heard many many times from children “Santa doesn’t come to Direct Provision” or “Santa doesn’t come to Ireland” so can you imagine what it will be like for the children to hear their classmates at school talk about what they’ve asked Santa for or what Santa is going to bring them? Each asylum-seeker only gets €21 a week and most do not have the legal right to work so if parents can’t earn money to buy gifts for their children, let’s offer them the opportunity to buy gifts themselves with our donations, right? We have linked up with the women who raised funds for the DP centres in Cork and they have raised thousands of euro to cover €50 vouchers for each child. Argos gift cards or general one-for-all vouchers are appreciated. The parents will take the bus to Argos once we’ve raised the money and the parents can have the opportunity to once again provide for their children. Direct Provision means you cannot even cook for your child, their meals are provided in canteens at set times per day and without parents being allowed to work, it’s increasingly difficult to provide any type of support for their children. Let’s bring a little choice back into their lives instead of forcing things to happen to them once again. Thank you for donating and sharing the link!

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