Locals, individually and in groups, are working overtime to welcome the first party of Kosovan refugees who arrived in Munster last week.
They were part of the airlift that will bring 1,000 people from the area to our shores. Some of the first 138 went to Killarney, others to Millstreet in Co Cork.
In both towns, a local support effort went into overdrive. Ms Eily Buckley has described what she and her volunteer friends will do for the refugees.
"The first thing we must do is to give them space and privacy and not impose ourselves on them. They are traumatised, in unfamiliar surroundings, and naturally pining for home. You know the way it is - when we go away on holidays, we start longing to be back home again even after a few weeks. How must they feel? The night they arrived, I saw one poor woman, very much alone, although with fellow nationals. She was looking into space. She was lost, but we felt for now we should leave her alone."
There have been appeals to the media not to interfere with the refugees during the settling-in period.
By and large, these appeals have been honoured, but just in case, security firms have been employed to ensure they are given space to acclimatise.
The Millstreet liaison committee, comprising local volunteers, members of the Southern Health Board and the Refugee Agency, has been established to see that the Kosovans, living in the convent adjoining Drishane Castle, will be given every opportunity to integrate and be made welcome.
Apart from good food and clean, safe accommodation, how might their lives be made better? According to Ms Buckley: "Millstreet isn't very big but we have a lot to offer and bit by bit we will be pointing out to the Kosovans what is available here for them. We have a vibrant youth centre; a gymnasium; tennis as well as pitch and putt; basketball; rugby; hurling and football.
"There is a parents and toddlers group, which gives women with young children a chance to meet and socialise. We have coarse fishing on the Drishane lakes and the local fishing club uses the Blackwater. There will be plenty for them to do.
"And then, of course, we have had offers of help from all over. People are ringing, offering to take the younger Kosovans into their homes for a holiday; there are offers of food, toys and clothing - everything you could think of. Each offer is noted. We might not need the help just now but maybe in a few months these offers will prove to be very useful.
"It must be terribly difficult for them and they must find the silence here deafening - such a contrast to what they have known. It will take time, but our volunteer group, and many more waiting in the wings to help if necessary, will do everything we can to make life a little easier for them.
"There is great goodwill towards these people and in time they will come to know that they are among friends. At least that is one very positive thing. I suppose their presence here shows us that we don't really appreciate how well off we are ourselves. We will befriend them, offer our hospitality and facilities and make them feel at home."
Others in the Munster area have been helping in different ways. A truck driver who led a convoy of 11 45ft trucks, laden with 200 tonnes of goods, to Albania, gave an account on Cork's 96FM radio station recently of their six-day journey there. They drove through mainland Europe, through France and Italy, finally boarding a ferry at the eastern Italian port of Bari, bound for Albania.
Mr Chris O'Donovan from Douglas in Cork is a truck driver with Tesco. He is no stranger to travelling in Europe with a huge rig, and he was the ideal person to lead the convoy.
On seven previous occasions, he had been in that part of the world. Before, he saw deprivation, but this trip to Albania was different - it was profoundly shocking. No infrastructure, bad roads, urchins without parents scrambling for scraps, and the war nearby taking its toll.
The convoy - a Trocaire/Tesco initiative - had everything one could think of, from bottle-openers to food and clothing. It travelled 3,900 miles to bring relief gathered by the people of Cork to the poorest state in Europe.
And when it got to Bari, a few "heavies" moved in insisting a number of rebels fighting against the Serbs be taken to Albania.
It wasn't a request, it was an order, and with it came gestures indicating quite clearly what would happen if there was not compliance.
In other words, Chris O'Donovan and his team made the journey at considerable personal risk to a region in which human life is cheap just now. They had to stay up all night to guard the convoy.
Chris O'Donovan had this to say on his return to Cork: "Given the opportunity, I would go back there tomorrow. It is hard to describe how the Kosovans in the camps are living and coping and Albania itself is under extreme pressure. When we got to the port of Durres in Albania, there was a traffic accident and we were delayed. Small children, alone and without parents, gathered asking for whatever we could give. We offered them biscuits but they didn't even know what they were.
"Through the window of the cab, I started to give out sweets. Some of them fell on the soggy ground. Just as we were getting ready to roll again - for whatever reason - I looked down and saw a tiny pair of legs sticking out from under the front wheel. The child was no more than three or four years of age. Had I moved an inch, I would have crushed the life out of him. He was searching in the muck for a few sweets that had fallen."
Tomorrow in South Eastern report, Chris Dooley reports from Wexford on the efforts there to help asylum seekers