Published: Wednesday, 9th December, 2009 5:50pm

Mullingar people continue to lead the way in flood relief effort

Christmas cheer continues to arrive in bucketloads from Mullingar in Athlone and other areas of the flood-stricken area of the west, as this part of the county continues to lead the way in the recovery effort following the November deluge.

Bartle D'Arcy, Manager at Belvedere House, Gardens and Park, Mullingar, arrived at the Westmeath Examiner office last week with a consignment of almost 250 toys, which have been delivered to the Shannon region ahead of the Christmas period.

The Westmeath Examiner continues to be at the centre of the flood relief campaign here, in Mullingar, and the flood relief programme - coordinated by the Westmeath Volunteer Centre, who have used the Examiner office as a depot for donations - will scale down this week.

The Westmeath Examiner will discontinue accepting items for the flood relief effort as and from of 5pm on Friday next.

In the interim, the volunteers hope that people wishing to donate items will concentrate on bottled water, detergents, disinfectants and other cleaning material

A spokesperson confirmed this week that there are sufficient stocks of clothing, bedding and other personal items in distribution centres in Athlone and the west of Ireland.

Last week, Ian O'Flynn of the Westmeath Volunteer Centre explained the extent of the relief effort being coordinated in Athlone.

He said that a warehouse has been established to take in and distribute items donated to the programme.

An intricate filing system was set up - helped by laptop computers kindly donated from private owners and computer shops - using Google Documents, in a bid to evenly distribute everything which has been donated.

"We're very happy with the level of support we have received so far," Ian told the Westmeath Examiner. "If anyone would like to help in any way, I would ask them to text me on 086-1743470, or e-mail ian@volunteerwestmeath.ie." The generosity of people knows no bounds they say and one woman from The Downs, Mullingar has proved just that.

Sandra Macken put out the call last week to friends and neighbours for quality bed clothing, children's and adults footwear and cleaning products, but the response was so overwhelming, that Sandra teamed up with Pharmacist John Keane in the Market Point Pharmacy to store all the goods they were receiving. Sandra is organising daily trips to Athlone and the West for distribution to St. Vincent de Paul outlets in both places, and if anyone would like to get in touch with Sandra on how they can help with the relief effort, simply call 086 8171892, or drop the items listed above to the Market Point Pharmacy. Mullingar's Town Mayor Cllr. Ruth Illingworth and charity worker Brian Fagan were also out on the streets of Mullingar collecting for the recovery effort last Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and would like to express their thanks to the Mullingar people for helping to raise over €3,000.

"We had hoped to raise €2,000 but in fact we raised over three thousand so I'd like to thank all the people of Mullingar who helped with the collection," commented Ruth Illingworth.