People who received unwanted Christmas gifts are being encouraged to 'pass the parcel'.
For the fourth year in a row, staff at Dublin’s Pro-Cathedral and Crosscare are urging people not to change, store or dump unwanted presents but to bring them to the crib in the cathedral where they will be given to the needy.
Last year, 18 vanloads of presents were collected by Crosscare, the social care agency of the Dublin Diocese.
The organisation gave out hundreds of gifts to men and women in their homeless shelters.
They received enough to hold gifts for this year, leaving them in a position to give presents in time for this Christmas.
What was then left over was sold in Crosscare's, Blanchardstown service and the money given back to their homeless service for essential supplies.
Fr Pat O' Donoghue, who started the campaign four years ago said the response has been overwhelming.
‘It is incredible that we spend so much time and effort buying gifts and spending hard earned money, and yet we end up giving each other way over and above what is actually needed, or wanted, this way, at least both the givers and receivers can be assured that their time and money ends up being put to good use and we can bring some solace to people in society who find themselves without a home or a family’.
Conor Hickey, director of Crosscare, said the staff in the Homeless service were facing a busy year ahead and already, were seeing an increase in the numbers of people turning up at shelters.
The Deloitte Annual Christmas spending survey 2008 estimates that nearly €270m was spent on unwanted presents this Christmas.
That works out at around €66.80 per person.
But if you need to raise some cash yourself or are not near the Pro-Cathedral, you can always sell the unwanted Christmas gifts on the internet.
Sellers who want to 'pass the parcel' by using online retailer eBay to get rid of their presents can also choose to donate some or all of the proceeds from the sale to a charity of their choice.
