BETWEEN 450 and 500 homeless people are daily seeking breakfast and dinner at the Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin’s north inner city – nearly double the number two years ago.
The number of food parcels the centre provides to people and families in need each week has also risen from 400 in previous years to 1,000 at present.
Brother Kevin Crowley, the centre’s director, spoke of a “new type of homeless” visiting the centre; those struggling to keep their houses and lacking money for essentials such as food.
“We had a case there recently of a man who was out of work for the first time; he has a mortgage on his house, and has four children, and came looking for food. He never had to do it before. It was a difficult thing for him. He felt embarrassed and was very concerned.”
He added: “The number of men has increased; we also have a number of families coming in, and as well we have quite a high number of foreign nationals.”
He said the rise in numbers was not just related to Christmas. “We have the poor all year round. I suppose there’s a certain amount of loneliness out there, and I find that people are really lonely at Christmas time, especially people who have lost their job, lost their homes, lost their families.”
Although the recession was affecting the number of people visiting the centre, which offers shower facilities, a doctor and a counsellor, Brother Kevin believed it was not affecting their fundraising efforts.
“Our running costs for the year are about €1.1 million. Of that, we get €450,000 from the Government and then we have to raise the rest ourselves. We depend on the generosity of people; without it, it would be impossible for us to keep up the centre.”
Many firms and organisations help raise money for the centre, and yesterday Hairdressers Support the Homeless Fund presented it with €10,000.
The fund’s chairman, Aidan Fitzgerald, who runs a salon in Blackrock, Co Dublin, said: “Over the years we’ve done many events, and we wanted to do something for the homeless.”
Mr Fitzgerald lobbied others in the hairdressing industry to raise the money, and received products from Wella and L’oreal to be distributed to the homeless, as well as donations from his clients. The hairdressers’ group will be assisting with the centre’s activities over Christmas, and helping to provide food parcels in January.