EGGSTREMELY GENEROUS YOUNG SISTERS
Pair’s Easter gifts for kids in hospital
TWO young sisters have collected more than 800 Easter eggs for children in hospital to enjoy.
Lauren Metcalfe, 16, and her sevenyear-old sister Ellamay are giving the treats to charity Children’s Health Foundation at Temple Street in Dublin, which will distribute them to patients across its various hospital wards.
People have either donated eggs to the youngsters from Ballymun, North Dublin, through Revolut or dropped them off at Nan’s Centra & Off Licence, the shop where the girls’ father Thomas Metcalfe works as a delivery driver.
Thomas, 36, said the initiative, which was sparked by Lauren following an injury a decade ago, has helped to bring the community together.
He said: “Ten years ago, Lauren broke her leg just before Easter and she had loads of Easter eggs [but] she wasn’t a big chocolate person.
“She said to me, ‘Dad, can I bring some of these to the sick kids in the hospital?’
“I think at that stage, it was 18 or 19 eggs we brought, but for her to do that herself was an amazing thing. It made me feel proud.”
The next year, the family decided they wanted to do “something bigger” and it has become somewhat of a tradition now.
TRANSPORTING
Thomas said: “There can be a lot of bad publicity about Ballymun, but things like this help the community come together and they’re always there to help.”
He added there has even been international interest in the project, with a friend who owns a company in Turkey called Get Slim having donated €100 towards it each year.
Lauren told how the family received so many eggs last year it was hard to fit them all in the van to transport them to the charity.
She said: “Last year was the biggest one because we had 993 eggs and it was crazy to see how many people actually donated eggs. It was even hard to take a picture of the eggs as we couldn’t fit them all in.”
Despite her young age, Ellamay is not a novice, having been involved with the project since she was two. When asked about why she wanted to help, she said: “We get to donate to the sick people.”
Each year the girls have participated, the charity has given them a certificate. Lauren said: “Last year, I got a medal, which had the charity name on it.”
Mr Metcalfe added: “[There] is a really nice woman from the charity [called Alfreda] who has been looking after us for the last 10 years.”
If people would like to donate an egg, they can either reach out to the charity or message Thomas on facebook.com/thomas.metcalfe.14.
It was hard to take a picture of the eggs, we couldn’t fit them all in LAUREN METCALFE