HUNDREDS of parents who are living on the breadline will be able to give their children Easter eggs this year thanks to the work of food banks and community organisations.
The West Belfast community has once again rallied during the holiday period to donate chocolate eggs to organisations who help those in poverty on a weekly basis.
Paul Doherty from Foodstock West Belfast explained: “The sad reality, due to the state of things, is that we were supporting 250-plus families on Saturday.
“A lot of those would be referred on to us from Advice NI, the Covid Community Helpline, from the the Belfast Trust, and from refugee and asylum seeker organisations.
“A lot of the people are in temporary accommodation, like hostels and so on.
“We’re going up every week and we’re seeing people running to the door, happy to see food, and a lot of them are very small kids, so we just put a message out and people in the community, between football clubs, St Teresa’s nursery school, Sainsbury’s in West Belfast all got involved, so it just means that 200 households, a couple of hundred kids, are going to get Easter eggs on Sunday, so it has been a great thing.
“People have been brilliant in terms of the response. Every day this week people have been turning up with carloads of Easter eggs, so there’s literally hundreds there and we’ve already got hundreds out.”
Pastor Tony Meehan, who operates the West Belfast Food Bank, said THE Easter eggs will be a much-needed boost for families who “may not be able to afford treats for their children”.
For many low-income families that use food banks a selection box or chocolate egg would be “a luxury,” he said.
“Sometimes they’re choosing between heat or eat, but they’d love to be able to buy their kids a nice big Easter egg, but just not have the money for it, so it does make a difference,” said Pastor Tony.
“At Christmas time and Easter time when you get to put something special in a food parcel it brings a bit more joy than just the normal parcel.”
