For a number of years now, instead of gifting a festive bottle in one of our signature cardboard tube packages, we have been making donations to various charities on behalf of our customers.
This year, we are donating to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), as well as three organisations which help make life better for people without homes in Ireland: Peter McVerry Trust, Focus Ireland and the Capuchin Day Centre for Homeless People.
We also made a special donation to the Capuchin Day Centre earlier this year. It was in memory of Ray McGowan, former MD of Industrial Packaging, who sadly passed away this year.
For 50 years, Ray (front left in the photo above) helped people in need in Dublin city centre, in particular around the Pearse Street area, near the original Industrial Packaging factory. He and his brother Dermot ran the St Vincent de Paul activity for the area, visiting families and supplying them with food and necessities, every Thursday since 1957.
We learned about the Capuchin Centre, which provides similar support, through Brother Columbanus, a Franciscan monk who was a great friend of both Ray McGowan and Fred Lee, the original partners in Industrial Packaging. We think Ray would have been happy to see the company he helped to build also keep up his “other job”, through donations to this centre. www.capuchindaycentre.ie
The centre supports people who have no home, or are socially excluded, providing for their most basic needs: access to toilet facilities, somewhere to shower and change their clothes, decent hot meals, someone to interact with. Breakfast is served daily to 250-300 people, dinner to 500-600. On Wednesdays, volunteers prepare and distribute weekly grocery supply packages. Medical care, hygiene products, clothing, tents, sleeping bags, rainwear, baby and children’s supplies are all made available.
So, thank you for your custom in 2019, which has not only supported many Irish manufacturing jobs, but has permitted us to give something back to Irish society. We look forward to working with you in 2020.
From all of us at Industrial Packaging