Two young Dublin sisters are on a mission to provide 1,500 Easter eggs to children in hospital so they have "something nice to look forward to".
Lauren Metcalfe, 17, and her younger sister Ellamay, eight, from Ballymun, started their appeal for chocolate eggs, or donations for them, on 20 February on TikTok, which was viewed by more than 6,000 people.
Close to a month later, numerous people from Ballymun, as well as those further afield, have sent them donations through Revolut or dropped Easter eggs off at Nan's Centra & Off Licence, the shop where their father Thomas Metcalfe works as a delivery driver.
They have set themselves a target of giving 1,500 Easter eggs to Children's Health Ireland (CHI) at Temple Street, on 17 April.
"At the moment we have 540 Easter eggs and we're just trying to get as many this year as we can to get it bigger and bigger each year hopefully," Mr Metcalfe said.
"It's hard as a lot of shops will only let you buy a few eggs at a time.
"We went to one shop on the weekend and I got 372 Easter eggs but I had to do 93 different transactions, which was crazy.
"A company called Get Slim in Turkey also sent over a big donation."
This is not the first year the sisters have been involved in the charitable initiative.
"One teacher calls me the Easter bunny now every time he sees me."
Roughly 12 years ago, Lauren - who has admitted to not being the biggest chocolate fan - broke her leg just before Easter and had lots of eggs which she decided she wanted to give to children in hospital.
At the time, roughly 18 or 19 eggs were distributed, with the number rising year upon year.
Having recently started a part-time job at a Chinese restaurant, the teenager has been using some of the money she has saved up to purchase Easter eggs.
Her charitable heroics have earned her a fitting nickname at her school, Trinity Comprehensive School.
"One teacher calls me the Easter bunny now every time he sees me," she said.
"Another teacher is trying to help us get Easter eggs as he knows someone at Cadbury and others at school have told me to keep reminding them about what we are doing as they want to donate."
She said she "definitely did not" expect the project to still be ongoing but has loved every part of it, especially because her family are involved.
"People always say Christmas is their favourite time of year but when it gets to Easter, I always say that is my favourite time of the year," she added.
"Christmas is usually seen as the time for giving but Easter is kind of forgotten about and there are always kids in hospital at this time, so it is nice to play a part in giving them something nice to look forward to."
The family collected roughly 820 Easter Eggs last year.
They have implored businesses who want to get involved to get in touch with Mr Metcalfe via Facebook.
Lauren has encouraged other young people who want to do something similar to be consistent and believe in their ideas.
