The annual kindness campaign run by Carepack.ie has connected a HSE residential care centre in Co. Wexford with members of the public who wanted to ‘give back’ this Christmas.
Carepack.ie facilitates the public in sending gifts, letters, cards or artwork to a resident they are matched up with in one of many such public or private facilities nationwide, including St. John’s Community Hospital in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford.
A voluntary organisation, Carepack.ie began its kindness campaign towards making connections during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has remained active in the meantime, with more than 70,000 residents of nursing homes and residential care centres receiving gifts and cards since the campaign’s inception.
An Post have worked alongside Carepack.ie from the beginning and offer free postage for packages up to 1kg in weight. This includes cards and letters. To ensure packages are sent free of charge, senders are advised to write FREEPOST where the stamp would usually be fixed. Alternatively, if they have been matched to a care home close by, packages can be dropped in personally.
Participants in the annual Carepack.ie campaign are encouraged to include letters or cards into a package, along with some ‘goodies’ that the resident can enjoy.
Last year, over 26,000 carepacks were issued to residents, while a further 22,000 letters and cards were given out from students and youth groups. Carepack.ie encourage inclusion of handmade gifts and ideas including magazines, activity books and arts and crafts kits, writing material, knitting wool and playing cards.
Ursula McPhillips (Director of Nursing), said St. John’s Community Hospital and its residents were thrilled to be part of the Carepack.ie 2025 campaign and that there was great excitement on the day the care packages arrived for them in Enniscorthy.
Pictured in St. John’s Community Hospital in Enniscorthy, upon An Post’s delivery of the Carepack.ie kindness campaign Christmas carepacks, were (from left to right): Ewa Juodis (Reception), Sharon Fox (Accounts Dept.), Andrii Syhlovyi (Activity Assistant), resident Mary Connors and Mary Fox (Activity Nurse Co-ordinator).
