Áirc Midlands do reverse trick or treat for Halloween 2020
Áirc Midlands is just one of countless organisations whose activities were curtailed because of Covid-19, but its volunteers didn’t let the small matter of a global pandemic stop them celebrating Halloween. A support organisation for children with disabilities and their families, Áirc Midlands is a 100% voluntary group based in Counties Westmeath, Offaly, Longford and Roscommon.
Pre-Covid, the services Áirc provided, such as horse riding, messy play, swimming, dancing and the Penguin Club (for sports), also included the siblings and friends of the children with disabilities.
The volunteer committee, whose members are the parents and friends of children with disabilities, also offer emergency respite and equipment grants, host coffee mornings and training sessions and provide peer support.
Deborah Kelly, PRO for Áirc Midlands, said: “During the first lockdown, we had to stop all activities for the children. As family carers ourselves, we recognise what a difficult time it is on children with disabilities and their families, so we worked behind the scenes and found a way we could support families remotely.
“We also recognise that children with disabilities and additional needs will find the changes in routine challenging, and we developed an activity pack for them for over the holidays.”
The packs contain crafts, workbooks and a specially designed autumn outdoor activity book by Carole McGuinness from Child’s Play ABA Therapy in Mullingar. This book aims to promote communication and language development.
The packs also have fun stuff – squeeze balls, cake mix to get baking with and sweet treats.
They went out to 200 children across the midlands last week, a busy time for the county chairpersons, Angela Locke Reilly and Theresa Finn. They had spent weeks planning, sourcing and purchasing items to go into the boxes, and travelling around the country to collect items.
Deborah said: “We don’t have a premises, and with the level 5 restrictions, we couldn’t rent a room or travel far, so we packed and stored the boxes in our homes.
“Kirsty Finn (Áirc Midlands secretary) did amazing work packing the boxes. Alma Geraghty and her house-mates packed all the sweets, and our committee of volunteers from all over the midlands did amazing work to get the boxes to families – Susan Cleary (and Deborah) in Mullingar, Theresa Finn and Kirsty Finn in Westmeath, Maria Corcoran in Offaly, Angela Locke Reilly in Athlone and Ballinasloe, Alma Geraghty in Athlone, Josephine Feeny in Longford, Valerie Murray in Athlone and Birr and Lorna Kelly in Roscommon.”
The volunteers also wanted to look after the carers, “unsung heroes during the pandemic” as disability services are dramatically reduced and respite hours cut.
“Carers have taken on so much and we wanted to do something special for them,” said Deborah.
The 150 carer packs going out contain treats, pampering goods, face masks, bath bombs, little bottles of wine, and copies of ‘the #100happydays challenge’ book donated by Arlene Naughton, child psychologist, with ideas of activities to do with children.
“Our volunteers did reverse trick or treat, dressing up and dropping the packs to families across the midlands,” said Deborah. The reception was so positive and the kids and parents are so happy.”
Deborah said Áirc Midlands is hoping to repeat the gift idea at Christmas so anyone who would like to volunteer to help can contact the committee via Facebook. Anyone who would like to make a donation can do so via PayPal at aircmidlands@gmail.com.