09.02.2015
Black Santa Gives €35,000 to Local Charities From Record Dublin Sit Out
Dublin’s Black Santa fulfilled the second part of his role yesterday (Sunday February 8) as €35,000 was handed out to charities at a service in St Ann’s, Dawson Street. The record sum was collected during the annual Black Santa Sit Out at St Ann’s in the 10 days before Christmas.
Representatives from the charities were present to receive their cheques along with members of some of the choirs who helped bring the spirit of Christmas to Dawson Street by joining the Vicar, Canon David Gillespie and his band of volunteers as they shook their collection buckets on the street.
Speaking at the service was a former Black Santa and Dean of Belfast, the Very Revd Houston McKelvey. The Dublin sit out, now in its 13th year, was started by Canon Tom Haskins and was inspired by the much larger sit out which takes place outside St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast.
A veteran of 11 Black Santa Sit Outs in 10 years in Belfast, Dean McKelvey, who retired in 2011, joked that the subtitle for the sit out was ‘Frozen for God’. While Irish people liked to see a frozen priest of any denomination, he said, the sit out served two good causes – to encourage the generosity of the public and to affirm the good work of the charities and volunteers that the funds collected were donated to.
“The nice thing about a sit out is that it is owned by everyone. It might be happing outside a Church of Ireland place of worship but I noticed that people of all Christian traditions and non and people of all world faiths supported it,” he commented.
He added that the sit out also pointed to the good causes it supported. “It affirms the efforts of people who are working in the charitable sector of society. Neither the government in Belfast nor the government in Dublin could afford to pay for all that needs to be done and the tighter things are financially, the more responsibility falls on the voluntary sector. The sit out recognises the work that it done throughout the year by those volunteers,” he stated adding that they were the Good Samaritans of their day.
Speaking after the service, Canon Gillespie said it was a great pleasure to hand out the cheques to the charities. He also paid tribute to the choirs who supported the sit out and to all who contributed to the smooth running of the sit out.
On behalf of the charities who benefited from the sit out, Geoff Scargill of Protestant Aid thanked the Vicar and his team for the huge effort they had put in and said many people would benefit as a result of their efforts.
The funds were distributed as follows: Salvation Army – €5,000, Solas Project €5,000, Protestant Aid – €4,000, TRUST – €4,000, SVP – €3,000, Bishops’ Appeal –€3,000, McVerry Trust – €3,000, Dublin Simon – €2,000, Laura Lynn – €2,000, Samaritans – €2,000, Barnardos – €1,000, PACT – €1,000.
Photo captions:
Top – Representatives of the charities who benefited from the Black Santa Sit out at St Ann’s, Dawson Street, are pictured with the Vicar, Canon David Gillespie, the Revd Yvonne Ginnelly and Dean Houston McKelvey.
Bottom – Black Santas Canon David Gillespie and Dean Houston McKelvey with a mini Black Santa baked specially for the occasion.