Cardboard house raises funds for children’s hospice

THE property boom may have crashed but families and friends spent night and day at the weekend building a different sort of housing project.

Ireland’s largest cardboard house was erected overnight in Dublin, in efforts to raise much needed funds for the country’s first hospice for sick and dying children.

Families from the leafy south Dublin suburb of Foxrock put together thegiant construction, using some 7,000 cardboard boxes.

The finishing touches were being made to thepaper house yesterday, which took up 70 car park spaces measuring 20 metres by 20 metres.

Fundraisers worked over Saturday night and Sunday on the grounds of the Children’s Sunshine Home, Leopardstown Road. The funds are being raised for Ireland’s first Children’s Hospice, the LauraLynn House, which is being built at the site.

One mother who helped build the house, explained how her young sick son had been helped at the home.

Mags Evans, from Foxrock, said Nicholas, 6, was suffering from severe disabilities and had medical problems.

Staff at the sunshine home had supported her husband Mike and their family by providing care for the young boy for five years.

“They’ve helped us to cope. It’s a huge demand to look after him all day. Sometimes we get respite from the home and a chance to recharge our batteries when they care for him.

“We get time with our other three children and have also made some good friends through families there.”

The hospice, which will be built by March next year, would provide more beds for severely ill children and ultimately an “end of life” location for them, added the mother.

Local priest Fr John Bracken described how some 1,350 members of the community were involved in building the cardboard house and had managed to raise €36,000.

“Hopefully some of the funds will go towards fitting out the hospice, like a playground or garden for the children,” he added.