Sparking a change
VOLUNTEERS FROM THE DOMINICAN CHURCH COMMUNITY SLEPT OUT ON A WET FRIDAY NIGHT AS PART OF A MAJOR FOCUS IRELAND FUNDRAISER. HUBERT MURPHY WENT ALONG TO MEET THEM.
THEY wondered about him, what his life was like before hard times hit, before something else consumed his days. He was tall, but very thin. He struggled to hold onto his clothes, maybe as he struggled with life. But what caught the volunteers’ attention as they huddled in a small marquee at the front of the priory house was the immaculate manners of the young man.
Being down in his luck hadn’t changed his personality.
It was getting late, the misty rain falling discreetly on the already wet pavement, when walked up to the gates and peered in.
Rita Hanratty stepped forward to greet him. With a sort of shyness, he asked could he have a cup of tea. It was offered without hesitation. He spotted a bottle of 7 Up and asked could he swop the tea for a drink of ’ that instead. They offered him both. He was shocked.
A sandwich followed and he ate heartily. When a chocolate biscuit appeared, heaven - appropriately enough for where he was standing - suddenly opened up.
They watched as he soon departed back up Dominic Street with a packet of biscuits in his hand - it could have been a bar of gold to him.
In seconds he had disappeared, gone back to his world - wherever that may be in the darkened corners of a rapidly changing Drogheda.
Others came and went, the generosity of some people overwhelming.
Fr Jim Donleavy looked about and pondered on the experience, the very act of stepping into the community, into a community that needed him and the volunteers most.
During the night they headed off onto the streets, collecting funds from those that wanted to contribute and ironically stopping off to help those cuddled into sleeping bags in doorways.
As the new day beckoned, people again arrived with buns and sweets and vitally - funds for the cause.
‘It opened eyes’, Fr Donleavy
HE HAD A PACKET OF BISCUITS IN HIS HAND -ITCOULD HAVE BEEN A BAROFGOLD TO HIM
remarked as tired eyes sparked brightly.
During the course of the night they had spoken about doing something more than a one night mission.
‘We must put a more permanent situation in place and we’ll do that’, he stated.
A Dominican ‘outreach’ will be formed, perhaps every second night a team of volunteers will take to the streets with tea, snadwiches’ blankets, or just to chat, to help those in need.
‘It’s something we will need volunteers for, from the entire community, because Drogheda does have a problem’, he stated, ‘ and we have seen it.’
What really struck a cord with the volunteers was the reaction of the people of the town.
One man arrived with a bag of coal for a fire they had lit, cars pulled up, dropped in money and went on.
Fr Jim said it reminded him of Edinbugh. When the Simon Community opened there, he gave a year helping them. It stood to him last Friday as the rain fell.
‘Would I do it again?” he pondered. ‘Yes, I would’, was the hearty answer.
Last Friday was but a moment in time - but for one man - with his packet of biscuits - it was a chance to sample a past way of life, to feel important again and be treated with human dignity.
For that alone, it was an incredible success, never mind the fact that over €3,000 has been raised to date.