Cara Cancer Support Centre shop in Dundalk celebrates first anniversary

The first thing that greets you when you enter the Cara Cancer Support shop at 4 Williamson's Place in Dundalk, is the camaraderie and warmth from the volunteers who work there.

Last Friday the volunteers were celebrating the first anniversary of the opening of the new Cara Cancer Support Centre and shop at 3 & 4 Williamson's Place. During the day, all stock in the shop was being sold at half price and the volunteers came in early to pick up some bargains and celebrate the day.

Previously, the Cara Cancer Support Centre operated for a number of years on the same street a few doors down, but after fundraising and with the help of a LEADER grant, they were in a position to purchase the new premises.

Following renovations, the bottom floor of number 4 was converted into the charity shop, and number 3 Wilkinson Place, the support centre. The dividing wall between 3 and 4 was knocked down and the entire first floor has been converted into one and is part of the support centre.

One of the volunteers, Julia Mackin told the Dundalk Democrat that the shop and helps fund the centre which is next door. Commenting on the other volunteers she works with, she said that they are a “great bunch of girls. As well as volunteering, it's a social outing, they come in, we have tea and the craic, it's more of a social gathering.”

Above: Pauline Bromley, Josephine Mulholland and Anna Brennan celebrating the 1st anniversary of the Cara Cancer Care shop 

“People come in the door and we don't know what kind of a day they had. And we give them the banter and they sit and chat. And we have regulars who come and go, they just come in for the craic and the banter and they buy something.”

She continued, “it's not just people and their families who have been affected by cancer who support the shop, but people from everywhere.

“There's people who come in who just love charity shops, they all come in and spend time and have the craic, we get to know them by first name terms. We don't know, maybe we're the only people who speak to them all day.

"Everyone who comes in our doors, we get to know them. A lot of people didn't know about the centre, so through the shop here we tell them about the centre.”

^{Above: Mary Reenan, Concepta Woods and Linda Zadini}

Speaking about how things are going in the centre and the shop, volunteer, Bernie King said, “it's going great, the shop is deadly. The centre is going well.” Explaining the roles of some of the women who are there, Bernie said that herself “and Kate work in the centre. Patricia is on the committee, the treasurer, and Julia is on the committee.”

Julia commented, “We have our sale on and we said we'd open the door to the volunteers at 9 o'clock. Our volunteers are our best customers.” She points to some of the stock in the shop, she adds, “Rosemary crotched, beautiful blankets and babies dresses, cardigans, lovely cushion and blanket sets.”

The centre itself is still a very busy service. Bernie says, “I run reception usually, I'd be the first person people would see. I put them down for appointments, etc.” Giving a tour of the support centre Bernie continues, “downstairs there is a reception area, a communal area and a kitchen.”

^{Above: Geraldine Bond with Eileen Connolly}  

Heading upstairs to the first floor and into a bright and airy room - all the rooms are bright, airy and welcoming, “this is our counselling room. The counsellor would be busy. We have two counsellors, one comes on a Wednesday and we have one that's available to come on Fridays".

In the next room, “this is reflexology and Indian head massage and oncology massage happens here. It can be busy here. We'd be busy in the week.”

Entering one of the first floor rooms, Bernie says, “this is one of our front rooms, this is just more or less for, we can take people in here if they don't want to be downstairs. People that come in new, we normally take them upstairs, just to chat with them, so it's not overwhelming.”

Bernie reveals, “sometimes they walk past five,six,seven times before they come to the door. It's not an easy thing to come in. But then when they come in and they've talked to somebody upstairs, maybe for two visits, they're great – they just come in and chat.

“People come in here – today it's the men, it's men on Friday usually. And that wasn't actually planned. That's just the way it happened. There's men who come in, they sit downstairs, and they talk about everything bar cancer, just chit chat. Stay for an hour, maybe stay for two hours, and have tea and the craic.

“And they do, (chat), when they come through the door initially, it's not that we keep them private, we give them that space, until they get aware and used to it – they have to get used to us as well. It's like going anywhere for the first time. If you're dealing with cancer and the trauma, it's very overwhelming, without having to come in and face a few strangers, and talk about it.”

For people who are dealing with cancer and coming to the centre for the first time, Bernie says, “hey don't know what they're coming into. Is it going to be like a hospital? Are they going to be put into a waiting room? So that probably puts them off too.”

The warmth and friendliness of the volunteers is important here to help put people at their ease. “There's a great bunch of volunteers. They all get on really well and gel together”, Bernie adds.

In terms of being able to sustain itself, Bernie says that, “you'd still need to do your own fundraising. Most of our fundraising is done by the public – doing marathons, we've had a few head shaves, all different things. There was a few up in Oriel Park not so long ago, they raised money for here.

“And there was a lady client, she was going through treatment, she shaved her head before the chemo took her hair. She shaved her head and donated all the money to here. The public is very good. We wouldn't be here without them. Even coming in and donations to the shop, its amazing what people donate. The shop is going well.”

“And volunteers run it too. If it wasn't for the volunteers where would we be?” To find out more about the Cara Cancer Support Centre, see their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/CaraCancerCareCentre.