LOVE of his great grandmother inspired nine-year-old Paul O’Hanlon to recycle odds and ends left over from his mum’s creative hobby to raise money for Milford Hospice.
Paul, from Caherconlish, told the Limerick Post that when his great grandmother, Marie Davis suffered her last illness, “she went to Milford and they minded her.”
Marie died in June 2017 when Paul was just five years old but he has never forgotten her.
The imaginative youngster hit on pieces of paper left over from his mother’s card and invitation making hobby and decided to make use of them.
“I love books so I decided to make bookmarks. I got blank paper, the leftover patterned paper and some ribbons and stuck them together,” he said.
His mother Emily explained “He put hours into making them. The homework was interrupted some days.”
Paul explained that the first bookmark took a few minutes “but when I made more, it took less time for each one.”
After working every day to make 900 bookmarks, Paul sold them in his school, Gaelscoil Chaladh an Treoigh, for €1 each and later went door-to-door where he sold them for €2 or whatever contribution people wanted to make.
Said Emily, “We shared it on Instagram and Facebook #bookmarksformilford and before he knew it, he was posting them to Dublin and Waterford.
“He also got huge support from the people of Limerick City and the community in Caherconlish where he sold them door to door.”
So far, Paul has raised €700 which he has presented to Milford and he still has quite a few bookmarks left over.
He kept one for himself and says he has just finished enjoying the ‘Monster Doctor’ books by John Kelly.
“We’re very proud of him and we wanted to thank all the people who supported his efforts,” said Emily.
