Raphael thanks community for overwhelming support

Raphael thanks community for overwhelming support

22 January 2020

A LOCAL man has described the community’s support for his annual Christmas appeal for DePaul and other charities as “incredibly overwhelming”.

Raphael Mason recently spearheaded his sixth annual appeal for DePaul and also supported the Fountain Foodbank in Downpatrick, the Children’s Heartbeat Trust in Belfast and Down District’s Home Start charity.

The award-winning Ballykinlar photographer transported four van-loads of clothes, toiletries, foodstuffs and toys to the various groups and said the response to his 2019 appeal was by far the biggest ever.

Raphael started helping the homeless following a chance meeting with a man living on the streets of Dublin in 2014 with initial donations received going to DePaul’s annual Christmas Appeal in Dublin.

The charity helps homeless people and those affected by homelessness and offers immediate and long-term support to people struggling to get by.

This year, Raphael’s appeal was widened to help several local charities and he was touched by the generosity of others, in particular, some whom would be regarded as not particularly well off but who responded to the Christmas message of goodwill to others.

The Ballykinlar man was also generously supported by staff and students at St Colmcille’s High School in Crossgar who organised their own collection, with Raphael thrilled that they have come on board to help.

“The donation from St Colmcille’s HS last year was unreal. This year they donated a fantastic amount for the charities,” said Raphael. “I am delighted to see young people come on board to help others. They are a credit to their school and their families.”

Raphael’s chance meeting with Martin, a homeless man living on the streets of Dublin whom he met during a visit to family members a number of years ago, was the catalyst for him to launch his annual appeal which has enjoyed tremendous community support.

The photographer’s meeting with Martin underneath a railway bridge close to Pearse Street railway station had a profound impact on him, moving him to organise an appeal as soon as he returned home.

“The sight of seeing Martin on Pearse Street back in 2014 will be with me forever. To see homelessness on the rise across Ireland,north and south, means something is badly wrong. There doesn’t appear to be any political will to cure the problem. It there was, we would not have homelessness in a modern society. More needs to be done, immediately,” said Raphael.

Year on year the response to his appeal has increased and this year he will be looking for anyone interested in helping to get in touch to help with the collection, storage and distribution of donations. 

Raphael confirmed that he plans to launch his appeal for volunteers to join forces with him this October.

“I cannot begin to praise every single person who responded to my Christmas appeal. It was so overwhelming,” he explained.

“All I do is put the word out about my appeal and people come forward in great numbers to help. The response to the latest appeal was the biggest to date and I cannot thank people enough for their generosity and support.

“The response from the public was truly unbelievable. I am particularly indebted to everyone, in particular, the staff and students at St Colmcille’s High School.”

The annual appeal is particularly time-consuming for someone who runs his own business and that is why Raphael is hoping people will volunteer to help him in 2020.

“Every item that is donated has to be unpacked and checked to make sure it is okay to pass on. Then it has to be sorted, re-packed and stored until the time to deliver it comes. This takes up a lot of time and there is only so much one person can do,”  he explained.

Raphael has also singled out the management and staff at Peter Fitzpatrick and Sons Estate Agents in Downpatrick for particular praise for allowing their Irish Street base to be used as a -off point for his appeal.

“The business has been so supportive over the past number of years. I cannot thank them enough for all their help,” he said.

“DePaul was over the moon with the items people donated and the fact that a significant number of people took time out at Christmas to think of and help others is very humbling. If more people come forward to help me this year, together, we could do even more.”

In future Raphael hopes to deliver the majority of donations to more local charities and organisations. He said it only seems right that items collected are distributed locally so in future most of what he receives will go to local charities.

He added: “The generosity and community spirit across the district is something to behold. All I do is announce details of the appeal and people across the community then donate in numbers.

“Once the message gets out there, people are quick to respond and I am so grateful as are the organisations they are supporting. The generosity of spirit that local people have displayed since my first appeal continues to be overwhelming.”