Ferbane residents helping latvian elderly have a happy christmas

The community of Ferbane is currently involved in a novel initiative, helping some 192 residents in an old folks’ home in Latvia have a happy Christmas.

Organised locally by Latvian native Inga Brazil, the project is hoping to collect as many Christmas gifts as possible from locals before Monday, October 20, next.

They will then be sent to the project’s headquarters in Portlaoise, before being sent off to pensioners in Latvia who have nobody to spend Christmas with.

Inga, one of the first Latvians who came to Ireland looking for work and who ended up marrying and settling in Ferbane, said the retirement home being targeted is in the village of Lauciena in western Latvia, about 60 miles from her own hometown.

“Eighty per cent of the residents have no families or no-one to spend Christmas with,” she explained. “Many of them have been abandoned during recession or emigration and forgotten about. Most of them have movement disabilities and some are bedridden.”

Gifts of all sorts that fit in a shoebox are being welcomed, while presents should be dropped to either Inga’s house or her sister-in-law Sinead McGuire.

“Even the smallest thing - a knitted scarf, a packet of sweets, a pack of cards - are welcome,” Inga said, adding that a present of any size will make Christmas Day a little bit happier for its recipient. “At least they won’t be fully forgotten,” she said.

More details are available by contacting Inga on 087 9148374 or Sinead on 087 6176936, or alternatively by visiting the 'Cxristmas Shoe Box Surprise’ Facebook page.