Sacred Heart School Westport is proud to have established a Young St. Vincent de Paul Committee this year. There is a council of eleven TY students who meet every Wednesday to discuss the various social justice issues they are trying to tackle. Helen Ralph, the SVP Youth co-ordinator has been a great source of encouragement and help. They are a passionate and hard working group of women who wish to do their best to help those in less fortunate situations than themselves and raise awareness of this with others.

The first project they undertook was to help out with Project Hope’s Shoebox Appeal. Under the direction of Helen O’Toole, the girls helped to sort and pack hundreds of boxes. They were so proud to be part of such a charitable endeavour. A total of 8,940 shoeboxes left Mayo for Romania last week.

The girls look forward to channelling their energies into more positive experiences in the run up to Christmas and the New Year. Inspired always by the words of SVP founder Frederic Ozanam: “Yours must be a work of love, of kindness. You must give your time, your talents, yourself”.