40 years caring for the aged
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THE annual senior citizens dinner in the Hillgrove Hotel, Dingle, on Sunday marked a milestone in community care.
The West Kerry Care of the Aged organisation has been catering for the needs of elderly people on the peninsula for the past 40 years.
One of the founding members, Nora Curran, took a few minutes off at Sunday's function to talk to
The Kerryman.
"The other founding members were Dr Jim Brosnan, John Joe Greaney, Sr Mary, Sr Columba and Sr Brendan. We started off with a house in Milltown before moving to Dingle. We now provide accommodation for about 25 people locally. We have two houses on the Mall, one on Green Street, as well as the Gairdín Mhuire day care centre on Green Street, and some bedsits on Goat Street. Anyone who ever came to us to be housed was looked after," she said.
"We raised money through all sorts of functions and got help from the National Lottery. We did one house-to-house collection but we never collected outside the church. The committee did all the maintenance work on the accommodation such as painting and so on. The community has been very supportive over the years and we want to thank them for that," she added.
Around 90 people enjoyed the Christmas dinner on Sunday.
The use of the hotel was given free of charge and some 15 volunteers cooked the meals and served the tables.
There were plenty of spot prizes and door prizes to be won, thanks to the generosity of local businesses and individuals, and the guests were entertained by the music of Ann Dillane.
