25% increase in people seeking help from Birr SVP

THERE'S been a 25% increase over the last year in the number of people seeking help from Birr St Vincent de Paul.
This time last year there had been a 20% increase in the numbers seeking assistance from the Birr branch of the charity, but that number has now gone up by another 5%.
Speaking to The Midland Tribune, Marian Carter, President of Offaly St Vincent de Paul, said that the cost of living crisis has hit locals hard.
She said the charity is managing to cope with the influx and is bracing itself for a significant rise in numbers attending when the sixty employees of Milne Foods in Syngefield Birr lose their jobs in the next few weeks.
“Electricity and Fuel Poverty are very noticeable in Birr and throughout Offaly since January,” the President pointed out.
“We are also seeing a lot more working class families requesting help,” she added.
“We stopped getting food from Tesco after Christmas, as the amount received had declined dramatically.
“We still have the Food from FEAD once a month.”
The FEAD (Fund for European Aid to the most deprived) programme is an EU-wide programme to help people take their first steps out of poverty and social exclusion.
The programme provides dry foodstuff to families and individuals struggling to provide themselves with the basic necessities of life due to lack of financial resources. The food items consist of basic, non-perishable foods which are easy to transport and store. This includes rice, pasta and pasta sauce, soups, canned fish, jam, tea, coffee, sugar, canned vegetables and breakfast cereals.
FEAD Ireland is funded by European and Irish exchequer funding. The Department of Social Protection is the managing authority of FEAD in Ireland, and is also responsible for its implementation. The FEAD programme has proved an invaluable resource that COPE Galway accesses for clients – families as well as individual men and women – across COPE's homeless, domestic abuse and senior support services. Offaly SVP sources the food items from COPE Galway.
Marian said quite a few Ukrainians are using the charity's service but are “only looking for clothing, not food.”
Birr SVP's next Fundraiser is the Aviation Breakfast Fly in at Birr Airfield courtesy of Birr Ormand Flying Club.
This annual event will take place on Saturday 15th April 9.00am - 4.00pm.
There is a charge of €15.00 per person for a Full Irish Breakfast.
“Spectators are welcome as we expect 100 Aircraft to arrive on the day,” the President added. “A donation to SVP would be appreciated on the entrance gate.
“This event is organised by Captain Sé Pardy of Aer Lingus.
“Sé is a native of Birr who has been our main supporter for the past 25 years.
“Our other main fundraising event is the Annual Golf Classic in Birr, which is also organised by Sé, during the first weekend in August.”
Marian said the charity's 16 volunteers in Ozanam House, Birr are kept very busy. "We are in fifth gear because of the demands but thankfully we are not feeling overwhelmed and are coping.”
Food is handed out to the public by the St Vincent de Paul branches in Offaly regardless of people's circumstances, and with no questions asked. The Birr branch hands out food four days a week, Tuesday to Friday, 10.30am to 1pm.
The charity is very discreet and sensitive to people's concerns. The helpline is (085) 8804028.
Nationwide there were a record 228,301 calls for help made to the charity in 2022 and there was a further increase in January of this year
Nationwide, calls for help with energy and utilities to the Society were up almost 40 per cent in 2022, and first-time callers grew by 24 per cent. Households with children accounted for 66 per cent of those requests – with 45 per cent of all requests coming from one-parent families. Over the longer term, SVP is calling on the Government to set the basic rate of social welfare at a Minimum Essential Standard of Living. This would be a floor, under which no one would be expected to live and where everyone could afford the essentials to live and participate in Irish society.