It was 11pm when the white van turned into the drive. The night was still warm even though the autumnal colours were gracing the leaves of the trees in the glow of the headlights as they swept across the landscape.
The van doors opened and there stood the pilot and co-pilot on the concrete drive. Boxes were hurriedly unloaded from the van into the little red Peugeot that awaited their arrival. And just like that the first leg of the relay had taken place with the transition of the boxes appearing seamless and well-rehearsed, but that wasn’t the case this was a last minute frantic scramble. But why? What was it all about? How did this pass the parcel begin? What’s the backstory? And how did we get caught up into this motorised pass the parcel relay team?
So what’s the backstory…
Well, this is a story belonging to the Carlow Kilkenny circuit and the wonderful wholehearted devotion the congregations have there to serving Christ, reaching out into their communities through the food pantry. The food pantry operates out of the church in Carlow but to fill in the details of how this charitable pursuit arose the following email lying in my inbox from Anton shall reveal all…
Hi Nigel,
Hope you are keeping well.
Thanks so much for creating the pass the parcel network. Here is some info how this situation arose.
The food pantry of the Methodist Church in Carlow has been over the last number of years a distribution centre (for the department of social protection) for school kits (pens, copy books, colouring sets, technical graphic kits, calculator, etc.) This year the number of kits was increased by 370 to include some for our Ukrainian visitors. With the help of our Ukrainian friends a separate list was drawn up. Unfortunately, by the time the kits arrived some of the Ukrainian visitors had been moved to Donegal. This left us with the problem of 28 school kits being in Carlow who are earmarked for Ukrainian school students now based in Ardara and Bun Beg in Donegal.
Again thanks, Stay safe & God bless,
Anton
So now you see the dilemma. Here were boxes earmarked for certain families but as the Irish government on the one side was sending the boxes to Carlow they were moving the families on the other. But it wasn’t a mile or two down the road was it? No, it was to Donegal no less! And so the drama unfolds and where others would have said “That’s a pity!” That wasn’t the attitude of the brothers and sisters of Carlow\Kilkenny! Oh no – they were going to fulfil their obligation to ensure these families received their parcels, taking the words of St Paul to the Colossians to heart: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord and not for men”. Now to hatch a plan…
So how do you chase a bus up the road with boxes of supplies?
To credit me with creating this pass the parcel network is a little disingenuous as the mastermind to this motorised pony express was none other than the pilot of the white van parked in the drive – Rev Susan!
Earlier that day Susan had been in touch asking if I would ferry these parcels a little further down the road. Agreeing to be involved it was apparent our team was a member short. My leg of the journey was from my home in Cloneygowan to Athlone. Like all good relay teams we needed four members and the last man would be none other than Rev Des who had been charged by Susan that same morning with the duty of delivering said boxes to the families in question who were now resident in his part of the world. So who would the third person be in the team? To whom was I to hand over these boxes to? After all Susan wanted to know and there simply wasn’t an answer. But that would be tomorrows problem!

Yixuan
And so the scramble began with Susan and her co-pilot Yixuan standing in my yard at 11pm, as I was due in Athlone the following morning early for a meeting! The morning dawned and the boxes were on route to Athlone with no changeover arranged and Rev Des on the phone stating he was good for a pickup in Roscommon if the boxes could be got there. Still no one!
But what of the missing link man? Then the penny dropped why not ask Geoff one of the folk I was meeting that day to ferry them on if he was able as it wouldn’t be too far from his home for him to meet Des. Geoff agreed, loading the boxes into his builder’s van arranging the time and place for the between himself and Des. Mission accomplished! Des headed for home laden down with the goodies on board for the families involved.
But there was one final thing Rev Susan insisted on and that was photographic proof the job had been done. So here is the proof, proving that where there is a will there is away, fulfilling an obligation and blessing others along the way…