Handbags and cake among unwanted Christmas gifts

Socks are no longer the king of unwanted gifts if the mound of presents donated to St Mary's Pro Cathedral are anything to go by.

On St Stephen's Day, the Pro-Cathedral's administrator Canon Damian O'Reilly urged people to leave any gifts they did not want at the crib, instead of putting them on Ebay.

“We’re delighted with the response,” he said. “We got scarves, gloves, hats, cosmetics, candles, chocolates, Christmas cakes,” he said. “But no, we haven’t got a huge amount of socks. But we did get many selection boxes.”

Canon O’Reilly said the appeal had also attracted a fine selection of handbags and good quality toys such as boxes of Lego.

“We also got a lot of jumpers, shirts and knitwear, things that people will use. A lot of practical stuff; pyjamas, slippers and dressing gowns.

Some very nice stuff has come in. We’ll be delighted to give these to people, especially the elderly people in the city. People have been very generous and please God they’ll continue to bring their gifts tomorrow.”

The appeal ends on Tuesday and goods will be distributed to shelters and projects supported by Crosscare, the Dublin archdiocese's social care agency.

Canon O’Reilly said the chocolates, biscuits and cake would be very welcome at Crosscare’s food bank and the new 35-bed hostel opened by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin before Christmas.

One six-year-old girl gave €100 and a cuddly toy to the appeal, he said.

“She took the money from her savings box to give to someone who got nothing for Christmas. That’s what I love about this whole appeal.

“When you see a little boy or girl coming in to give a toy because they’ve got more than they need, that’s the spirit of giving that tugs at my heart. They might put a little note with it, saying: ‘This is for someone who didn’t get any toys’.”

He said the donations were still on par with earlier years, despite the tough economic conditions and the fact that other charities were running similar initiatives.

“The important thing is that it is letting people know that people care enough about them to donate these gifts.”