Tag Archives: St Vincent de Paul

MONTHS of lockdown were put to good use with a successful application for funds to enhance one of the region’s oldest churches. The community who look after Oatfield Barn Church, one of just of three of its kind which still survive in Ireland, were able to use the time to make a successful application for a conservation grant under the Historic Structure Fund. The fund which is administered by Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan, has allocated €15,000 for repairs to the protected structure. The application was made possible with the support of the Tomar Trust which will also fund some of the works. “We’re just delighted with this,” said Michael Tynan, Pastoral Council representative and Oatfield Church Project Co-ordinator. “We had to have some of the money in place before we were eligible to apply for the Historic Structure Fund. Because we had support from the Tomar Trust, the way was paved for the application. …

AN Ennis school was honoured at the Young Social Innovators of the Year Ireland (YSI) Awards for its positive impact in helping to create a more equal, fair and sustainable world. Picking up the‘Fun-raising’ award, the team from Gaelcholáiste an Chláir, was recognised for its Poverty is 24/7’ project. This award recognises teams that have brought awareness and raising funds in for a cause in an innovative way. The Gaelcholáiste an Chláir students organised a fundraising event last December in which they took over the running of a local St Vincent de Paul Charity shop for 24 hours to help communicate a message that poverty is 24/7 while also raising funds for SVP. The 16 members of the 4GC class at Gaelcholáiste an Chláir completely managed the Vincent’s shop on Parnell Street for 24 hours offering a Christmas shopping experience with a difference. The students, with the support of teacher Martina McNamara, raised more than €5,500 in funds for the …

FOR some it’s the most wonderful time of the year, but for other it’s just the most expensive and stressful. Christmas is when the Mary Immaculate Conference of St Vincent De Paul in Shannon is at its busiest, helping the many local people who struggle to meet the financial demands of the season. Mary Corry has been involved in it for the last 25 years and she says that 2020 has posed very difficult challenges. “We’re not really doing visits at the moment, we just send vouchers to people. It’s much more difficult because we don’t meet to discuss cases or that sort of thing. Yet people’s needs remain the same, they’ve increased a bit I’d say. “ We haven’t been able to have a collection which is a huge drawback for us. We won’t be able to get food, we used to get an amount of food from the schools and the Giving Trees (positioned at local churches). We …

A CHRISTMAS shopping experience with a difference takes place in Ennis this weekend. A group of local students are coming together to highlight that poverty effects people throughout the country every day of the year by running the St Vincent de Paul’s Ennis charity shop for 24 hours. The 16 members of the 4GC class at Gaelcholáiste an Chláir will completely manage the Vincent’s shop on Parnell Street from 9am on Friday until 9am the following day with bargains galore promised. Teacher Martina McNamara tells us that the students are all looking forward to doing their bit to support the work of St Vincent de Paul in Clare, taking on all of the tasks involved in the management of the charity shop. She explains, “Our Transition Years annually organise a fundraising campaign for local charities. This year the 4GC class at Gaelcholáiste an Chláir will manage and run the local St Vincent de Paul charity shop here in Ennis for …

THE Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) has announced that it is planning to transfer the management of hostels including Laurel Lodge in Ennis to other homeless charities with specialist expertise in the sector. The society says that it believes that the move will benefit those who use the services of its hostels as managing homeless hostels is moving beyond the capacity of a volunteer-led organisation such as SVP. As most of the funding for the hostels comes from the state SVP is in discussion with the respective local authorities and the HSE to facilitate the transfer of its services. There are nine hostels involved which between them have almost 300 beds per night for homeless people. In addition to Laurel Lodge in Ennis they are in, Carlow, Cork (2), Limerick, Longford, (2) Waterford and Wexford. Laurel Lodge provides 13 places for homeless men. SVP National Secretary Andy Heffernan says that as a volunteer-led organisation, the SVP structure is …

FURTHER restoration work has been undertaken in recent days at what is believed to be the oldest church in use in the Diocese of Killaloe. A replica of the historical altar, which was removed from the St Vincent de Paul Barn Church in Oatfield, in the 1960s, has made by local man Donal Ryan. The beautifully crafted piece was this week installed and blessed by Bishop Fintan Monahan. Donal’s daughter is to get married later this month at the church and in advance of the ceremony, he approached the Pastoral Council with a view to installing the altar. “It was a conincidence that we happened to draw down a grant that enabled us to the preparatory work, just at the right time,” said Michael Tynan, Pastoral Council representative and Oatfield church project co-ordinator. “Donal has great skill and we are delighted now to have the altar in place. The restoration of the church has involved an amazing community effort and …

MORE than 50 charitable organisations and community groups have benefited to the tune of €49,000 from the proceeds of the court discretionary fund. The amount raised this year is €7,000 more than the accumulated funds divided out last year, with 21 more organisations seeing the benefit. A payment to the court discretionary fund is typically ordered by Judge Patrick Durcan in minor cases, in particular in the case of first offenders. The payment is often ordered in lieu of recording a fine and conviction. This year’s fund has been divided across 51 local and national organisations, with the largest beneficiary the Bedford Row Family Project Ltd in Limerick, which supports the families of prisoners. The group has received €10,000 from the fund. St Vincent De Paul services in Clare was the next biggest beneficiary. Ennis received €3,000 from the fund and St Senan’s Kilrush Conference St Vincent De Paul received €2,000. Four organisations benefited from €1,500 each – the Garda …

TWICE as many people are asking St Vincent de Paul (SVP) for assistance this year as did three years ago, while the society’s income has fallen by a quarter. Also, many people who used to help SVP at Christmas are now asking them for assistance, as falling salaries and State-imposed charges hit home. Clare area SVP president, John Cullinane, is appealing for last-minute public and corporate support in the run-up to Christmas. “We have our Christmas collection this weekend in Ennis. The church gate collection will get underway at vigil masses on Saturday and at all masses in Ennis churches on Sunday. We need it more than ever this year,” he said this week. “In the past three years, requests for our assistance have gone up by 104% and our income has gone down by about 25%. We have a lot of repeat people who make requests of us – probably 75% of our requests are from the same people …