Pictures: 4-year-old Kaelyn from Carrigaline turns on the Christmas lights at Cork's Crann centre
Four-year-old Kaelyn Murphy from Carrigaline, along with her mum Amanda Shannon and 10-year-old brother Jake, and five-year-old sister Annabelle enjoying their visit to the centre. Also included is volunteer Rudolf. Pic: Brian Lougheed
A four-year-old girl from Carrigaline was given the honour of turning on the Christmas lights at the Crann Centre for a very special festive event.
Kaelyn Murphy, who has spina bifida, is one of the children availing of the services at the charity's centre which provides support for adults, children and families living with neuro-physical disabilities.
Kaelyn and her family visited the centre to take part in their accessible Christmas experience recently.
For the event, a team of Crann Centre staff and volunteers from BioMarin and VelocityEHS decorated the centre’s accessible playground and reception area.
Elves from Talos Limited were brought in to help wrap presents for Santa, who arrived at his grotto for an extra special visit.
Some 50 families from around Munster were greeted by the team of elves and were brought to a magical wonderland, where activities included Christmas cookie making, design-your-own-tree-decoration, face-painting and a stop at Santa’s grotto.
Kaelyn's mother Amanda Shannon said Kaelyn and her siblings were thrilled to meet Santa.
“It’s just a very special moment for us, we do a lot of stuff in the Crann Centre so then to experience Christmas with them in their winter wonderland is fantastic,” she said.
“Kaelyn and her brother and sister were delighted to meet Santa and they even got a bit of Christmas magic so they loved it.”
Crann’s chief executive Padraig Mallon said that Christmas at Crann was a wonderful event which the charity had been fortunate to put on for the last three years.
“Our staff have been assisted by a fantastic group of volunteers to create a Christmas experience that is easy to access in a comfortable environment,” Mr Mallon said.
“One of the key issues that continuously comes through from families of children with disabilities and from people with disabilities themselves is social isolation so we want to give people the opportunity to be together at Christmas.
“This has been a great team event for our staff that’s a culmination of a lot of work and we have received great support from businesses both locally and nationally and I’d like to thank everyone for making this event possible,” he added.
Over 470 families have now availed of services at the Crann Centre, and the charity said it is determined to grow its community and bring more support and services to families in 2024.
Staff at the Crann Centre said the Christmas at Crann event would not be possible without the support of Community Foundation Ireland, the Late Late Toy Show Appeal, Rethink Ireland, Talos Limited, BioMarin, Smyths Toys , VelocityEHS, Greenveldt, Inniscarra Christmas Tree Farm, Dell, Johnson & Johnson, Smarttech 247, Mandiant, Google and Buckley Bros Builders.
For more details on how to support or donate to the Crann Centre or to avail of their services go to www.cranncentre.ie
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