Breda O’Brien: Volunteers are a vital humanising force in Irish society

No one ever knows when they will need St Vincent de Paul (SVP). My dad was a volunteer with SVP for many years. Then our family home burnt down, leaving my parents unharmed but with only the clothes they were wearing.

My parents were older and had limited savings. I was in the stony-broke years of early marriage, so I turned to SVP. I was taken to one of their clothing stores to pick out emergency clothing. I hesitated about a lovely old-fashioned suit that I knew would be both a perfect fit and ideal for someone of my dad’s vintage.

It seemed odd to choose a suit at a moment of crisis. My dad was a farmer and only wore a suit to weddings and funerals. I was also calculating how to stretch the small amount of money I had. The suit was gently picked up and handed to me. “I think your dad would like it. It’s on the house. And so is everything else.”

More than a decade later, my dad was buried in that suit.

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SVP does vital research and lobbying work on behalf of the poorest, aimed at changing unjust systems and creating a fairer society

Karl Marx famously described religion as the opiate of the people but he also described it as “the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions”.

For Marx, it was all an illusion that kept people bound to dreadful circumstances but even he could see the humanising impact of a community that really cares for others in a way that neither State bureaucracy nor ruthless capitalism can.

A heart in a heartless world is an apt description of SVP’s work but in a way that confounds Marx’s reductive view. SVP does vital research and lobbying work on behalf of the poorest, aimed at changing unjust systems and creating a fairer society.

It would have far less credibility as a lobby group if its members did not also know, befriend and support the people on whose behalf it lobbies.

Relationships are central to the volunteers’ work. Someone may contact SVP with an immediate financial problem. Two volunteers will visit and while they may meet the initial need, whether it be for food vouchers or help with a utility bill, over weeks as trust grows, deeper issues may emerge.

It is telling that the president of SVP, Rose McGowan, has done this kind of visiting for decades. She describes a family with lots of children whom she used to visit. The initial needs were obvious – food and clothing. Over years, with encouragement and support, the children were the first in their extended family to finish secondary school and go on to post-Leaving Cert education. All but one of the children, now adults, are in steady work and their mother is fit to burst with pride.

None of SVP's work happens without lots of people giving freely of their time

SVP aims to help people to self-sufficiency. Education is central to that mission. Certainly, SVP will help with school books and uniforms but there is also a discreet arrangement with some of the so-called grind schools to provide students with extra tuition. There are homework clubs and bursaries for third-level education.

SVP runs resource centres, some of which provide childcare. They organise courses in everything from cookery to computers.

None of this happens without lots of people giving freely of their time. Like every other voluntary organisation, SVP was badly hit by the pandemic. It relies heavily on church gate collections. Churches were closed for a long time and even now, the numbers attending are lower.

SVP shops are another valuable income stream. During lockdowns, the Government ignored pleas that they be considered an essential service. SVP volunteers were allowed to travel during the strictest lockdowns to bring food vouchers and other help but the shops, which serve those who do not have credit cards and cannot shop online, were forced to remain closed.

There was also a drop-off in volunteer numbers from a high of about 11,000. Nonetheless, SVP managed to move from face-to-face encounters to telephone and online work reasonably seamlessly, dealing with 191,000 contacts during 2021. Tragically, the need is growing all the time.

SVP is launching a nationwide drive for 500-600 additional volunteers. It needs them to visit people at home, in prisons and in hospitals. It needs workers for the shops, youth clubs, community resource centres, childcare centres and holiday homes. It also needs a whole range of expertise, from architects and engineers for their social housing projects to those with skills in information technology to collect important data. All volunteers will be trained and work initially with more experienced people.

Younger people wanting to give something back are welcome, but so too are retirees with valuable skills and life experience

Working from home was one pandemic by-product and that may help SVP. People too frazzled by commuting to come out in the evening to an SVP meeting may now welcome the opportunity to leave the house to do something worthwhile. Younger people wanting to give something back are welcome, but so too are retirees with valuable skills and life experience.

All that is needed is 3-5 hours a week to spare, a compassionate non-judgmental heart, broad agreement with the aims of SVP, and the willingness to learn how to do something positive rather than just being an armchair critic.

Visit svp.ie/volunteer