Huge charitable reaction after food supplies run out

CHARITABLE spirits from across the country pledged food and money to the Capuchin friary where 700 people this week queued for basic food supplies.

Brother Kevin Crowley, who founded the centre for homeless people in the early 1970s, said Tuesday’s Irish Examiner coverage of the massive queues had provoked much reaction from around the country.

“We have had a huge reaction. People from all over the country are donating food and money. The phone has not stopped all day,” he said.

Br Crowley said it was the first time the centre had ever run out of supplies, and that it was not just homeless people presenting in need of food, but people who had lost their jobs and were finding it difficult to make ends meet.

Alice Leahy, founder of Trust, a charity for homeless people, said for the first time in years the number of Irish people using its services had shot up 50%.

“I have just completed our figures for March and we were surprised to see the big increase in the number of Irish and a decrease in the number of non-Irish,” she said.

According to Ms Leahy, up until last month it had been the other way around.

Now, though, with job loss soaring and the recession biting, Ms Leahy said the charity was beginning to see people who had been housed back on the streets.

“It is very difficult to find out why someone becomes homeless and we don’t like to pry, but we are seeing people who had been homeless in the past back again. Most will have underlying problems, and for reasons they could not cope and have become homeless again.”

Meanwhile, both the St Vincent de Paul and Simon Community urged the Government to protect the poor in the coming budget.

The Simon Community warned that homelessness would inevitably increase in the current economic climate and called on the Government to deliver on its pledge to end rough sleeping and long-term homelessness by 2010.

Patrick Burke, head of Simon Community, said its services nationwide were at full capacity, and it expected the situation to worsen in the coming months.

“Given the severity of this recession and the difficult fundraising environment we are all experiencing, the very least the Government can do is underwrite existing Simon services around the country,” he said.

“Underwriting existing services will not ensure that the Government’s commitments will be achieved, but it is a good start and is the only way we can guarantee support and services will be available to those who need it most.”