THIS POP-UP COMMUNION wear shop in Ballymun is showing what true community spirit is all about, organisers say. 

Jacqui Dwyer, a volunteer at the Ballymun Child and Family Resource Centre, says she had a communion dress that did not fit her daughter and thought it would be good to open a pop-up shop to help lift the financial stress from families going through communion season.

“I was thinking there must be so many households who have surplus communion clothes,” she says, “that want to give them to a good cause.” 

She contacted Louise Smyth, a family support worker, and together with other volunteers they decided to try the idea and set up the pop-up at the centre. Smyth says the response from the community has been amazing, with donations coming from locals, businesses, and even from overseas.

“Some families would really need the support and help,” she says. “To be able to add this [the pop-up shop], and take the financial stress off… This is what it’s about.”