The Mountmellick Community Flood Support group have asked people to be aware that they are not holding any door-to-door collections and will not approach people for donations.
“We did have some reasons for concern,” said Annette Morris Keane who runs a Facebook page to co-ordinate fundraising.
“We don’t have specific details but people did message us,” she said.
Ms Morris Keane said there were some concerns in relation to door-to-door collections and a person being approached on the street for a donation.
The local committee reminded people that any such collection does not have a permit, and so is illegal.
She is aware of similar incidents when fundraising endeavours were running in the past.
In addition to the Mountmellick Flood Community Flood Support page, there is also a separate one which is co-ordinating donations of furniture and items which may be useful for those badly affected by the flooding in Mountmellick.
Over thirty families had to evacuated last week after flash-flooding in the town saw several areas badly affected.
Having run successful Facebook pages in the past, Ms Morris Keane said she decided it was a way for her to help.
“I was expecting about 100 people but within 24 hours we have over a 1,000 followers,” she said.
She said there is a full team working behind the scenes and a number of committee meetings will be held to co-ordinate their relief efforts.
Over €2,000 has been raised on the page alone, along with other donations.
Concern
“Our biggest concern, leading up to Christmas, is to help people get comfortable, at least. If we can help to take some of the financial burden off people before Christmas, that would be great, and then we can look at what we will do after that,” she said.
A number of fundraising events will take place, including a fun run on Sunday.
SEE ALSO – O’Moore Park could be made a concert venue to raise funds
