Kildare's Tommy Moolick urges Lilywhites to support Trócaire's Christmas campaign

Kildare's Tommy Moolick is throwing his weight behind this year's Trócaire Christmas campaign.

The Lilywhite and Leixlip midfielder is looking for his fellow county people to support the charity's ‘Gifts of Love’ campaign, which is aimed at providing families in the developing world with clean water, essential tools, livestock and help with education.

Launching their 2018 Christmas Gifts range, Trócaire revealed that the generous people of Kildare spent over €13,000 on the charity’s gift range last year, allowing the development agency to bring support to more than 400 families living in some of the world’s poorest countries.

“Just one gift can really make a difference to families living in very harsh conditions,” said Tommy, who is a teacher at Patrician Secondary School, Newbridge.

“Vital gifts like school supplies, including school kits and school lunches, greatly help children to further their education in some of the world’s poorest countries.”

Since it was first launched in 2000, Trócaire’s Christmas Gifts campaign has sold more than 920,000 gifts and raised almost €38m throughout the island of Ireland for the development agency’s work supporting families affected by long-term poverty overseas.

Trócaire CEO Caoimhe de Barra said: “We would like to thank all of our generous supporters in Kildare who have bought Trócaire Gifts over the years. The gifts, ranging from soap and chicks through to shelter and water wells, have a huge impact right across the world. This vital support helps families living in some of the poorest areas and most testing conditions, including regions in South Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Honduras and Guatemala.

“We are delighted that Tommy has helped us to launch Trócaire’s Christmas Gifts for 2018 and we hope the Kildare public and our supporters continue to provide such tremendous support for our work in over 20 developing countries.”

There are 14 Trócaire gifts to choose from, ranging in price from €5 to €1000 such as chicks, beehives and solar lamps. This year, there are also a number of new additions including ‘Help for Grandparents’, which will support those who are raising their grandchildren in the developing world, and ‘School Kits’ to send a child to school.