None of us here at Connemara Blue have the current skills needed to help in the front-line battle against Covid-19. However, we decided that we wanted to express our gratitude to those who have – and to say a big ‘thank you’ (in the only way we know how) to those who are serving our community during the present emergency.
We think we can safely speak for the whole Clifden and Connemara community when we say that we acknowledge and appreciate the fact that in their daily work, key workers coming into contact with the public potentially exposing themselves and their families to the risk of Covid-19.
As with all other ‘non-essential’ businesses here in Clifden, our shop has been closed to the public for a few weeks now. Our skills here at Connemara Blue lie in making (very ‘non-essential’!) fused glass artwork. Lacking the skill to help directly, we’ve put these towards making a small gift for Connemara key workers, hoping that they will accept this as a little gesture of thanks for the service they are giving.
So, on behalf of Clifden – and the Connemara Community – to our key workers we’re saying “a ‘big-little-thank-you’ so much for what you are doing. We all appreciate you and are incredibly grateful.”
To go to our new, ‘big-little-thank-you’ Facebook page, click here
What follows is the text of a press release we sent to the region’s media:
MEDIA RELEASE
Connemara Says a ‘Big-Little-Thank-You’ to Key Workers
In Connemara there’s a new idea that’s caught the imagination of the region’s lockdown-weary population: ‘Connemara’s Big-Little-Thank-You’.
Everyone everywhere is trying to think of ways of showing support and appreciation for the key workers among us – those working on the front line in the pandemic; ordinary people doing an extraordinary job.
In another jurisdiction, there’s the Thursday evening ‘Clap-For-Carers’. Here in Ireland, though, people are doing a variety of different things to help out. They’re volunteering their time, hand-making PPE and headbands for health workers and contributing in all sorts of other very practical ways.
Glass maker Ben Crow and the staff at Connemara Blue in Clifden have come up with an ingenious way of using their skills to express appreciation. On behalf of their community, they are making lots of glass ‘Big-Little-Thank-You’ tokens – one for each local key worker.
Crafted from clear fused glass and bearing the message, “a big little thank you from the people of Connemara”, they contain a little copper heart. These tokens will be a tangible keepsake; a tiny but permanent reminder to key workers that what they do is greatly appreciated.
Mindful that some of the four hundred or so tokens made so far are destined for healthcare settings, anti-coronavirus precautions are necessary. After kiln-firing they are handled and sanitised using isopropyl alcohol by staff wearing latex gloves and face masks. Then they are individually hand-wrapped in tissue paper.
Connemara Blue’s owner Ben Crow said that those who work in healthcare in hospitals and care home settings were naturally top of the list to receive the tokens, “but there are many more people who meet the public through their work. Daily, they put themselves and their families at risk of exposure to coronavirus,” he said.
The same applies to Gardaí, firefighters, ambulance workers and paramedics. “Doctors and their receptionists, postal workers, supermarket workers, bank and credit union staff all expect to serve the public through their work. So do veterinarians, couriers, petrol station workers and pharmacy staff,” he added.
Feedback from appreciative key workers has started to roll in. People have taken the time to compile messages of thanks and to say how much the little glass tokens mean to them. Delighted at this reaction, Ben said, “There is a very real sense of community spirit emerging from this lockdown – one that needs to be articulated for all to recognise, shared with each other and celebrated.” He added, “We’ve set up our ‘Connemara’s ‘Big-Little-Thank-You’ Facebook campaign in response to this need.”
So, all in all, ‘Connemara’s Big-Little-Thank-You’ is not just about the glass tokens. It is more of a movement – one that enables anyone in the community to share their support of key workers in these most challenging and difficult of times.
To go to our new, ‘big-little-thank-you’ Facebook page, click here