By Claire Corrigan
Almost 40 people took part in the Simon Community’s ‘Sleep Out for Simon’ fundraiser which took place last Friday, 21 October at Mullingar Arts Centre.
The event was organised by charity worker Brian Fagan who sleeps out yearly to raise funds for the charity.
Mr. Fagan said that it is hard for anyone to understand the bleakness of homelessness without seeing it firsthand. “Unless you actually see what’s happening on the streets out there you can’t imagine how horrible it actually is for so many people.”
Tony O’Riordan, CEO of Midlands Simon Community, who attended the event, said that one of the challenges that the charity faces is that many people don’t think of homelessness as rural problem. “People often think it’s confined to the cities, because the image that people have of homelessness is one of a person huddled up in a doorway or shopfront in the inner city of Dublin.”
“It’s not really as visible in towns like Mullingar, so it stands to reason that the good work that is done by community organisations here is not as visible either. One of the first people that we worked with here in Westmeath was a man who was sleeping on the floor of his friend’s bedsit while recovering from addiction and who was also coping with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. He wasn’t included in any statistics, as he wasn’t sleeping rough on the streets but for all intents and purposes, that person was homeless in the challenges that he had deal with.”
Mr. O’Riordan said that currently the service were working with 50 homeless in Westmeath alone. “We have six emergency beds in Athlone and we are the only supplier of emergency beds for single men over the age of 18 in the county, so that service is constantly full.”
“The rest of our supports are mostly through private rented accommodation, where we support people to move into their own homes and, through our volunteers and staff, help them to not present again as homeless.”
Mr. O’ Riordan said that Simon provide emergency accommodation, due to the significant gap in the funds that the charity receives from the Government and the cost of running the service. “It equates to €25 per bed per night, €150 euros a day and €54,000 a year, so it’s a very difficult challenge just to stand still.”
Carmel Bynre was one of the 38 people who spent Friday night outside the Mullingar Arts Centre. “I came here tonight to raise money for the homeless for the Midlands Simon Community, especially here in Mullingar. In the last couple of years, I started to notice more and more people in Mullingar lying on the street, so I thought, why not come out and do it. It’s one night of the year for us and for a lot of homeless people, it’s every night of the year. Let’s put this homelessness issue to bed.”
Mullingar businessman Des Walsh said he wanted to take part in the event, which was supported by Midlands 103, to show solidarity with those who are currently struggling to find a roof over their heads. “I feel so sorry for those people. I’m lucky that I have a bed to go to at night. I have great time for the likes of Brian, who is doing so much for homeless people. I feel it’s an awful pity that our greedy, selfish politicians are taking the increase in their salaries. I feel it’s a disgrace. What Brian does here every year is great, but it’s only a drop in the ocean compared to what’s needed. When you look at Dublin, where they provide meals every day for those who are out on the streets and on a Wednesday, there are over 500 food parcels. It’s a disgrace to think that we have let people get to that stage. There is so much our politicians could do if they’d only get up off there backsides and not be so greedy and give it to themselves the whole time.”
Emma Fox, who is currently doing her Leaving Cert in St. Joseph’s, Rochfortbridge, said: “We went on a tour around Dublin and I thought it was so heartbreaking to see the people on the street and for me to go home that night. I was actually so surprised. I didn’t realise how big a problem homelessness was. I saw the sleep-out advertised on Facebook and I said I’d do it.”
Brian asked that anyone who still has sponsorship cards to please drop them into Brian’s Treasure Chest on Castle Street, Mullingar.
