Lexi (7) with some of the food she bought for the homeless

Seven-year-old Lexie Delaney has been praised as the most 'compassionate' and youngest charity worker in Ireland as she raised hundreds of euro for the homeless this Christmas.

The seven-year-old from Co Offaly began working with the Inner City Homeless after a recent trip to Dublin.

Expand Close Lexi (7) with the clothes she bought for the homeless / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Lexi (7) with the clothes she bought for the homeless

Lexie’s mum, Lillian Delaney, told Independent.ie that Lexi “always wants to give more to those less fortunate”.

“She started working with the homeless about a year ago. A friend of mine works with the Inner City Homeless and every few weeks I’d buy a few toiletries and things and bring them up to Dublin.

Expand Close Lexi sold some of her stuff to raise money to buy sleeping bags / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Lexi sold some of her stuff to raise money to buy sleeping bags

“Her nanny does the lotto for her and when she won she wanted to use her money to buy stuff for the homeless. After that she just wanted to keep it up.”

A couple of weeks ago, Lexie was in Dublin shopping and spotted a young homeless boy on Grafton Street.

“We were up in Dublin for my birthday a couple of weeks ago and she wanted to buy a Burger King for a young lad on the street. He was so delighted with his hot chips.

“She’s always asking questions about why they’re homeless and she genuinely worries about them. She has a toy called a ‘worry monster’ where kids can write down their worries and the toy swallows them up. She wrote that she was worried about the homeless people. At seven-years-of-age, that’s her worry.”

Expand Close Lexi's 'worry monster' where she expressed concern for the homeless / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Lexi's 'worry monster' where she expressed concern for the homeless

Lillian said the family usually do a clear-out every few months so Lexi asked if she could sell her stuff to raise money for the homeless.

“We have raised over €400 to buy sleeping bags for the homeless and spent €150 buying clothes and bits and pieces for them.”

Lillian said her house is like a “warehouse” at the moment with all the items they’ve gathered for the homeless.

“Once people heard what we were doing, everyone started chipping in.”

Lexie gets her charitable side from her mum and dad who help out with different charities.

“My husband’s brother passed away and every year we make a donation to the Saving Dillon charity in his name. I think she sees what we’re doing and wants to do the same.”

Expand Close People have donated to Lexi's cause ahead of Christmas / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp People have donated to Lexi's cause ahead of Christmas

In March Lexie, who loves Irish dancing, held a ‘dance-athon’ with her friends and raised over €1,000 for the charity.

“She just likes to keep giving and giving. She’s such a compassionate child. She always has some project she wants to work on.”

Lexie and Lillian are planning on heading to Dublin on Thursday to deliver all the sleeping bags, toiletries and clothes that they have bought.

“It’ll be just in time for Christmas when it starts to get very cold on the streets. Lexi is delighted with all the stuff we’ve raised

Online Editors