Leah’s plea for teddy bears ‘goes a bit mad’
MORE THAN 10,000 TEDDIES AND DOLLS ARE DONATED TO APPEAL
IF you go down to the Corkery house in Dromahane you are sure of a big surprise – in fact more than 10,000 of them.
Recently Leah Corkery, issued an online appeal for people to donate 2,000 teddy bears and dolls which she intends to bring to South Africa to shine some light into the lives of children living in a poverty stricken township near Cape Town.
However Leah, who will be taking part in her third trip to South Africa next month as part of the ‘Niall Mellon Educate Building Blitz’ got rather more than she bargained for.
Speaking to Patricia Messinger on her C103 Cork Today show, Leah said the appeal went viral – with people from all over Ireland and as far away as Belgium and Australia responding to her plea.
In fact, Leah has so far been sent more than 10,000 teddies and dolls – and that number is still rising.
Leah said she got the idea for the appeal after bringing out some teddies to children during her second trip to South Africa with the Niall Mellon Trust last year.
“The problem was, I did not have enough so some of the children were upset when they didn’t get one. Most of the children out there have nothing, so I wanted to bring out 2,000 for each one of pupils in the school we are going to this year,” said Leah.
“It all went a bit mad,” she laughed.
Leah said they will be able to find homes for the more than 10,000 donations. However, getting them out to South Africa may prove to be a little more problematic.
“We will be bringing them to all of the schools that the Trust has worked with over the past few years. These are children that have nothing, they barely have shoes on their feet so this will be the first toy for many of these,” she said.
“The airline we are flying with has made provision for 2,000 of the teddies and dolls but not the rest of them. So we are looking for someone who goes out to South Africa on a regular basis to help us out. Maybe someone may have room on a truck or we might find a wealthy person who will pay for them to go out.”
Leah, a Social Studies student at Mallow College, said she will be among a team of 300 people travelling for this years three-week stint in South Africa.
She was inspired to take part in the initiative by her father Nicholas and uncle John, both of whom have made numerous trips with the Trust, said it was difficult to put the experience into words.
“Its just amazing. You really have to be there to experience it. Just seeing they have nothing and them comparing it to all that we have – it’s just mad,” she said.
“We will be building classrooms, renovating schools and supplying chalkboards and books. To be honest, I don’t think Mellon Educates gets anywhere near enough credit for the work it does out in South Africa,” she added.