Inspired Hannah cooks up a fundraising treat

IN 2008 Hannah Kent, from Chanel, Coolock, watched helplessly as cancer took her grandmother. She was only six-years-of-age at the time.

In 2013, cancer returned to take her beloved grandfather

‘Shaymo’.

Hannah was Seamus’s first grandchild and from the moment they met had an inseparable bond that could never be broken. When she learned how ill he was, her response was simple:

“we have to find a cure

?.

Hannah learned how the Irish Cancer Society’s Daffodil Campaign helps to fund research. She decided to play her part by holding a cake sale. She gathered her friends and they made their plans. They each recruited as many people who were willing to bake as they possibly could. With the support of the wonderful priests at St Brendan’s Parish, Coolock, they held their first cake sale in the parish hall and raised an amazing e1,100 for Daffodil Day in 2013.

Sadly Seamus lost his battle with illness after a heroic struggle, two weeks after the event. However, the Irish Cancer Society, together with the Irish Hospice Foundation, facilitated his final wish to come home by providing a night nurse after his hospital discharge.

Hannah realised how important this was to Seamus and the people he loved and while the wait for a cure goes on, there are others who rely on the Irish Cancer Society for this same gift.

Hannah knew that the ICS needed help and felt she and her friends could make a difference. They were determined to make Daffodil Day 2014 bigger and better and got more girls to come on board.

Hannah wrote to all the supermarkets in the area and once again Father Hand and Father Harrington, from St Brendan’s, who she dubbed her public relations department, provided support. They gave permission for the sale to take place after all the masses on Sunday, March 30 and gave Hannah the opportunity to plug the event herself the week before at every mass to all the parishioners.

Hannah wrote to and visited every supermarket in the area and even some further afield looking for donations. She wasn’t looking for money but baking ingredients for her bakers or products for the cake sale.

To their credit, most of them rowed in behind her. She received baking ingredients and products from Supervalu Killester, Supervalu Sutton and Northside Shopping Centre, Dunnes in Northside, and from Nolan’s in Clontarf. Credit must also go to the Village Pharmacy in Coolock for their kind donation and a company called CapCon she approached looking for milk and cream for their kind, donation.

Hannah contacted all her aunties and asked would they bake. Her friends too were busy, each booking the mammy’s kitchen for the weekend. By March 29, Hannah and the

‘D-Crew’ as she called them, had a total of 43 bakers recruited and ready for the

‘Mega Sale’ in St Brendan’s.

This included people who showed up on her doorstep unannounced the night before the event with trays of cakes. It was truly a wonderful show of community spirit.

As Hannah realised that not everyone goes to mass, she was still determined to get the word out to people who might be looking for a nice cake for Mother’s Day and had an eye for a good deal!

And as a lot of mailboxes now have a

‘No Junk Mail’ notice on them, Hannah and her crew – which included her nine-year-old sister Katie and her little brother Ryan – decided to knock on every door they could and hand in a flyer explaining what they were about.

Hannah’s proud mum, Katherine, told Northside People:

“Car loads of freshly baked produce arrived on the morning at St Brendan’s, and one wondered even with the best will in the world and the best deals in breads, cakes and pastries, how we would shift all this stuff.

“However, we needn’t have concerned ourselves because the people came in their droves. What was left wasn’t worth talking about and was gratefully accepted by the Simon Community.

?

Katherine said it was clear to all those who attended that the event was run by children.

“They obviously had the support of their parents but this was a group of kids realising how they could achieve something really worthwhile and working together to achieve their aim,

? she stated.

“They all gave of their time and energy as best they could and were an example to us all on what can be achieved when you have an idea and are willing to back it up with hard work.

?

Katherine added:

“Every one of them is a credit to themselves and their families and deserve the gratitude of their community.

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Hannah’s D-Crew team comprised Katie and Ryan Kent, Kaitlin O’Connor, Grainne Nolan, Sarah Locher, Aoife O’Dwyer, Emma Flynn, Emily Byrne, Sarah Challonner, and Lynn and Alison Grealy.