‘We can’t turn it down’ - Laois homeless charity to collect Electric Picnic sleeping bags
PATH volunteers will gather sleeping bags on Monday after the festival wraps up
The Laois homeless charity, PATH, will be collecting sleeping bags from the Electric Picnic campsite again this year to help those in need.
PATH volunteers go to the campsite in Stradbally every year after the festivities have ended on Monday. This year will be no different.
Speaking to the Leinster Express, Vice Chairperson of PATH Jason McEvoy said that a lot of work goes into collecting the sleeping bags and then preparing them for people in need.
However, he said it’s an opportunity the group “can’t turn down.”
Volunteers will collect as many sleeping bags as they can fit in their vehicles and then clean them before giving them out to people.
The sleeping bags collected at Electric Picnic on Monday will then be brought to Laois Shopping Centre on Thursday evening, September 3 at 6.30pm where volunteers will pick them up to clean and dry them.
Then these freshly cleaned sleeping bags will be returned to Laois Shopping Centre the following Thursday, September 10.
PATH will give these cleaned sleeping bags to the homeless.
Praising the work of the local volunteers, the PATH Vice Chairperson said: “It's hard work, but they help us out best they can, knowing that they're going to our homeless.”
As the local demand for PATH’s services continues to grow, the group has appealed for more local businesses to get involved if possible and provide particularly hot meals for their weekly food runs.