Teachers lend a helping hand
TWO teachers from St Mary’s College, Arklow, were delighted to be involved in the Burren Chernobyl Project recently which was run in support of a number of orphanages in Belarus.
Last week, the group put the finishing touches to the shipment of a container of aid bound for Belarus.
St Mary’s College’s involvement began with teachers Angela Flynn and Aisling Molloy’s fundraising and volunteer work last summer.
After raising considerable funds last May, Ms Flynn and Ms Molloy each spent a week volunteering at the Gorodische Orphanage near Minsk, Belarus.
Having observed how nappies were rationed to one a day for the babies and young children, they set about collecting packs of nappies from staff, family, friends and TY students in the hope of sending a quantity to be distributed to the orphanages through the Burren Chernobyl Project.
Reaching out to the wider community through a network of friends a huge number of nappies also came from the EPA, the Nordic Walkers in Bray and Cabinteely Community School. Through generous donations, the quantity rose to over 23,000 nappies.
Ms Molloy and Ms Flynn joined a large group of volunteers to load up a container which included all the nappies, mattresses, wheelchairs and walking aids.
The spirit of volunteering and social engagement has been adopted by the St Mary’s TY students whose theme this year is ‘Altruism’.
In May 2018 a group of TY students will travel to the Gorodische Orphanage to undertake their Community Care placement working with the young people in the orphanage – huge congratulations to all involved in this project.