Christmas Party for Children in D.P

Each year at this time, staff and students from UCC and their friends organise a series of seasonal parties for children who are asylum-seekers and living in the Direct Provision system. We are working with the centres  in Cork, helping those closest to home who need it most.

Children in Direct Provision live marginalised, deprived and isolated existences in their hostel accommodations. We try to relieve their mundanity for a little while with these seasonal events. 

At the parties, we provide each child with a good quality gift that is appropriate to their age. We also have the usual party fare: this year we will provide light refreshments, such as pizzas, ice-cream, soft drinks etc. We also organise entertainment: the various societies in UCC provide songs, dance, crafts and other activities for the day, and we also bring in other entertainers, like a balloon-man, a DJ, tumblers etc.

While these are done voluntarily, as you can imagine, we need funding to do these properly, and use a variety of approaches to gather funds, both internally within UCC, and also from the greater public. We appreciate any donations, and all donations will be used for this purpose. Once we have raised the money, it will be then withdrawn and used to buy gifts, pay for organisers and entertainment, catering and transportation costs.