Shop Local Limerick – Alanna Ryan of BigBouldHead designed the amazing graphic above especially in honour of the I Love Limerick ‘Shop Local Limerick” campaign

I Love Limerick launches Shop Local Limerick to help Limerick businesses this Christmas

By I Love Limerick correspondent Mary Caroline McCarthy

I Love Limerick have launched our own Shop Local Limerick campaign which we will be running on our Instagram leading up to Christmas.

Richard Lynch of I Love Limerick said, “This coming December and after the impending aftermath of our second lockdown and as we prepare ourselves for a Christmas like no other it is important that we stop for a minute and think about helping all the homegrown businesses in Limerick and shop locally so to support these smaller businesses through these difficult times.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by I Love Limerick (@ilovelimerick)

It may seem easier to shop online or to go away for the day to shop but the positive impact that can come from shopping locally is also something that needs to be considered. The feeling that all things are possible near home, or the feeling of living in a community where people work together to grow the community for the benefit of the residents. It is true that some local traders need to adapt to the world better and adopt a bigger online presence, but it is also true that we need to adopt a better offline presence too. Together we are better. Please Shop Local Limerick this Christmas and beyond!”

Earlier this year, in response to the pandemic that is sweeping the nation, Limerick City and County Council and Limerick Chambers established the Limerick. ie/Shop platform which allows the consumers of Limerick to connect with the local suppliers for any of their shopping needs. It is a virtual marketplace that you can browse and buy from homegrown Limerick businesses, buy a local business voucher, or even use it to find out about local neighborhood food deliveries.

This virtual marketplace opens a new experience for Limerick consumers and bridges the gap that Covid has made between customers and shops. A lot of the locally owned businesses are owned by people you know from your own community, so buying from them means you are buying from somebody you trust which makes the experience of shopping much more enjoyable.

It is important to remember that by shopping locally you are supporting other local businesses too as local shops use local services such as accountants, insurance brokers, and suppliers.

Another positive of shopping locally is in a world that is becoming dominated by chain stores, which have been designed to look the same, independent businesses bring much-needed originality and variety into communities. The main street filled with unique, vibrant, and colourful shops will attract much more tourism and attention which will help make the community a more popular and financially healthier area in which to live and work.

Richard commented, “This year you have a lot of responsibility to support the small businesses in Limerick as it is you that will be making the biggest difference on whether they survive as a business. You could be the difference in whether a homegrown bakery survives or sinks after two years. By spending your time and money in local stores, you can change people’s lives. Making a point to Shop Local Limerick and show your support at least once a week throughout the year will change your community.

In Limerick, there is a variety of locally owned businesses that need your support. They can offer you brilliant, unique Christmas presents for the whole family. Limerick has an abundance of creative people that are out there selling the product of their creativeness and could use your support.

Shopping locally this year will make a big difference to the people you are supporting and will mean a lot more to them than the larger corporations.”

Richard added, “We are looking for gift ideas from local family run independent businesses. Please see our Shop Local Limerick highlight on our Instagram. Send in your gift ideas suggestions for local family run businesses through the question box in the highlight and make sure to include the businesses Instagram page. Any suggestions you send in will be shared Saturdays and Sundays on our stories leading up to Christmas.”

“We also want to thank Alanna Ryan of BigBouldHead for designing the amazing graphic she created especially in honour of the I Love Limerick ‘Shop Local Limerick” campaign! We are so grateful to her! Check out her Instagram @BigBouldHead.”

#ShopLocalIreland #ShopinLimerick #ShopLocalLimerick #lovelimerick

For more News go HERE

For more about Limerick.ie/shop, go HERE

Midwest Simon Community Foodbank – Jackie Bonfield, CEO Mid West Simon Community, Eleshia Fahy, Head of Operations at Mid West Simon Community and Dominic Locke, Kerry Group at Midwest Simon Foodbank. Picture: Richard Lynch/ilovelimerick

https://youtu.be/F2f0aXuaelY 

Midwest Simon Community Foodbank asks businesses and community for help

Anthony Foley and Kevin Sheahan, Kerry Group at Midwest Simon Foodbank. Picture: Richard Lynch/ilovelimerick

On Friday, November 27, the Midwest Simon Community held their second last food bank for those suffering from food poverty in Limerick before Christmas. Richard Lynch of I Love Limerick was invited to film and meet the lovely people who run this vital service after a video I Love Limerick put on their Facebook last month about the foodbank ended up going viral.

When we arrived at the foodbank early morning, despite it being only 9.45 am and the food bank wasn’t due to open until 11 am, the line was going around the block.

Midwest Simon Community provides this monthly foodbank service to the people struggling financially in Limerick. This operation provides people with a more dignified way to receive help getting food for their families and themselves. The foodbank they provide can only offer so much help on their own and so they are asking for help from local businesses and local people to help them help those who need it the most this Christmas.

Midwest Simon Community has been established since October 2006. The service covers the counties of Clare, Limerick, and North Tipperary. They aim to support people through their journey out of homelessness by providing appropriate accommodation and care services, tailored to their individual needs.

In Limerick, the foodbank operates from their office on Speaker’s Corner, Lower Carey’s Road. To date Midwest Simon supports over 2,000 people a week with food aid across the region and is the second-largest distributor of the FEAD programme in Ireland. The Fund of European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) is designed to support member states in addressing the basic needs of the most deprived people in our community.

Since our previous article on their foodbank, the support they have received from different groups and individuals donating their time and their resources to help Midwest Simon has grown. Thanks to the publicity they received from our video, Kerry Group arrived with a large donation of food for them to hand out to the people during this foodbank.

Crew and volunteers of Midwest Simon Foodbank. Picture: Richard Lynch/ilovelimerick

Jenny Walsh, the Foodbank Coordinator for Midwest Simon Community, said, “The Kerry Group is coming here today as a result of the exposure from the last foodbank by I Love Limerick. Kerry Group reached out to us and said they would love to help with the foodbank. As a result of the last video and story, we have even received more volunteers which has been a massive help.”

One of the Kerry Group representatives, Dominic Locke, said, “We are delighted as a business to be able to support this wonderful initiative by donating a few of our food products to the food drive, especially at this time. It is so important that we all look out for each other and this is just our way of supporting and giving back to the local community in which we operate.”

The Midwest Simon foodbanks are available in Limerick, Nenagh, and Ennis. In Limerick, since the start of Covid-19, the number of people Midwest Simon has helped with their food bank has doubled and the longer we stay in lockdown the more the numbers grow. Covid-19 has had a massive effect on the people of Ireland’s regular income and a lot of people have been left to rely on charities such as the Midwest Simon Community.

The last foodbank before Christmas will be available on Friday, December 18. You can attend there from 11 am to 1 pm and 2 pm to 4 pm. If you are elderly or vulnerable you can inform a member of staff and they will allow you to go to the front of the line so that you are not putting yourself at risk.

Eleshia Fahy, Head of Operations at Midwest Simon Community, said, “We are going to put out a huge call out today to big or small corporates that are willing to donate some food to us. We are always afraid of running out of food for the people who so desperately need it. We are always, always willing to accept any donations that are possible for people to give.”

Jackie Bonfield, CEO of Midwest Simon Community, added, “Kerry Group is providing us with some refrigerated food which we can’t normally provide so we are delighted. Hopefully, between now and Christmas we will get a lot more donations which will add to people’s Christmas table. So, they can actually celebrate Christmas like all of us want to. We have had a terrible year with Covid-19, and numbers have increased by over 40% with so many people losing their jobs. We are asking people to donate as much as they can so that everyone can celebrate Christmas with their close family this year, it is what we want to do and it is what we want everyone to be able to do.”

For more info call 061 608 980.

For more News go HERE 

If you would like to donate to the Midwest Simon Community, click HERE