SVP has 7.5% jump in calls

The Mid-West Society of St Vincent de Paul experienced a 7.5% increase in calls last year, with 25,500 appeals for help in the four weeks before Christmas alone.

The charity is now making an appeal of its own, asking people to give of their time as well as donations in order to help the rising numbers in need of assistance in this region. Bridget Healy, SVP Regional President, said those numbers have increased exponentially over her 43 years with the charity, and are now largely made up of middle income earners.

“It’s not the people who are out of work anymore,” she said. “It’s the people where there’s maybe two people in the family and they have a young family, they’re being hit really hard, either through their mortgages or their rent. They’re being hit hugely.”

Ms Healy said most of the calls SVP received locally last year related to food and heat. The charity has continued to provide a wide variety of supports, but it needs volunteers in order to maintain that provision. Volunteers are needed across the gamut, from SVP shops to visitation to office work and the housing conference.

NENAGH WAREHOUSE

A key component of what the Society of St Vincent de Paul does is the provision of clothing to people in need. Something Ms Healy came to realise many years ago is that while families might need clothes, they want to be able to choose the garments themselves, rather than having someone bring them to them.

That led to the opening of SVP charity shops – there are now 20 of them dotted around the Mid-West. “The idea is that people choose their own clothes at a very low cost and that money goes back into the local conference to help families with food, ESB, heating, whatever the case may be,” Ms Healy explained.

People bring donations of second-hand clothes to the shops or leave them in clothes banks/bins. All of the Mid-West donations are brought to a warehouse at the Five Alley outside Nenagh, where they are sorted by a team of volunteers. The warehouse also operates a ‘FoodCloud’, distributing surplus food and groceries from supermarkets.

The team – presently made up of 15 volunteers – processes hundreds of bags of clothes every week. The clothing is checked and separated into good quality or “rag”.

Remarkably, less than 20% of all the clothing taken in at the Nenagh warehouse is returned to the shops for sale. The rest is sent for recycling.

‘COLLECTING PEOPLE’S WASTE’

“We can’t sell mouldy clothes, wet clothes, damp clothes – we get a lot of those in – or soiled clothes,” said Suzanne McNamara O’Reilly, Regional Retail Manager with SVP. The volunteers are often surprised at what they find in the bags and sometimes feel like they are “just collecting people’s waste”. People throw in shoes with holes that could never be worn again. The volunteers have even found discarded nappies and food in the bags.

“We’re so grateful for donations but sometimes you open a bag and it’s not a donation – it’s a bag of rubbish,” Ms McNamara said.

“Even if people are really desperate for warm clothes, you treat them with dignity and respect. That’s at the core of everything we do.”

She wanted people to be aware of the kinds of clothes that are not suitable for donation. These include good quality clothes that might have been tailored to fit someone 20 years ago and are now being thrown out because they no longer fit.

Ms Healy cited a recent example of a man who brought in eight silk suits, thinking they would fetch a good sum for SVP. “That is not how it works,” she said, explaining that clothes must be affordable to those visiting the SVP shops, and so are sold at a small fraction of their original worth. Every shop has range of clothes costing just €1 or €2. Prices rarely range beyond €20 or €25.

FAST FASHION

Similarly, Ms McNamara said that mass-produced cheap clothing from the likes of Shein cannot be sold because those visiting the charity shops are looking for quality clothing. She said there is an important educational lesson to learn around fast fashion, and SVP has linked in with the Limerick School of Art & Design and several local schools to this end.

“We’re doing everything we can to keep clothes in the circular economy,” she said. “It’s an important part for us because we have a responsibility to our world and the people in it.”

However, she also made the point that not everything sent for recycling can be recycled due to the chemicals typically used in mass-produced cheap clothing. She hoped people would buy into the awareness SVP has been trying to raise around this issue.

“Some people might order five of the same thing, thinking ‘one of these is going to fit me’,” she said pointing out that even if the unwanted clothes are sent back to the retailer, they might not be resold and are likely to be dumped.

“People need to be aware of that. Try shop second-hand if you’ve never done so before. I never buy new.”

Ms Healy added: “I think a lot of people were ordering excessively online during covid because we’re getting huge amounts of the same item.”

Many of the clothes donated to SVP still have a label on them or come in unopened packaging.

‘A PLACE FOR PEOPLE TO GROW’

People volunteer with St Vincent de Paul for all kinds of reasons. Some do because they have a vocation for helping those in need; others because they have suffered a loss and want something positive to focus on; more because they want to meet new people.

All find it a rewarding experience, one where they enjoy a friendly camaraderie while learning a new life experience and giving something back to the community.

“It’s place for people to grow,” said Richie Sheehy, who recently joined the warehouse team in Nenagh.

Volunteers can give as much or as little of their time as they want. Stephen Maguire joined the warehouse team on 19.5hr per week CE scheme. But he volunteers as much time again on top of that because he enjoys the experience so much.

They would love to get more younger people involved, though they appreciate that modern life has perhaps made volunteering more challenging. They particularly need new delivery van drivers, given that two finished up before Christmas.

There is no Garda vetting required for volunteering in the warehouse or shops. People can email or phone call in order to express interest in getting involved - info.midwest@svp.ie, 061-317327 or 086 8396497 (Richie).

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