St Vincent de Paul under pressure
A Wexford charity which helps families experiencing poverty, is itself struggling to cope financially after all income sources have dried up due to the coronavirus crisis.
The Wexford area of St. Vincent de Paul Society has seen an estimated 20% increase in demand for assistance resulting from widespread unemployment locally following Covid-19 workplace closures.
At the same time, all its incoming revenue has disappeared, mainly due to the closure for the past three months of the charity shop Vincent’s in Selskar which normally takes in enough money to cover services for a year.
‘The phone is hopping all the time. People are mostly looking for food and also help with utility bills’, said Area President Annette Beckett.
‘There has been a big increase in demand since the beginning of the crisis and it’s continuing to rise. There are greater costs on families, especially those with teenage children because they’re home from school, and the grocery and utility bills are higher.
‘If you had a wage, all of a sudden, you don’t have a wage. Some people on the Covid-19 payment of €350 would be better off on standard unemployment benefit because they could claim for partners and dependants. People are struggling, absolutely.’
‘Since the lockdown, we’ve seen a 20% increase in requests for help and that is rising every day but our income has dried up completely. We can manage for a little while but what we have is fast drying up. We have a huge area to cover and we provide support to the rural conferences’, said Annette.
‘We have nothing coming in now. We get the odd donation. We had to cancel the summer church gate collection later this month.’
Looking to the future, Annette said September when children return to school is a time of further high demand on the charity.
The closure of Vincent’s charity shop will also have a knockon effect next year as the annual income from the outlet covers expenses for the following year, and the 2020 takings will be vastly reduced.
Asked if means the charity will have to turn away people in need, she said: ‘We hope it never comes to that. I would hate to think we wouldn’t be able to help people who need it.
‘I don’t want to be putting on the poor mouth - every charity is in the same boat. Of course, we would be happy to accept donations but it’s a difficult time for everyone .’
Annette said many people who are struggling financiallly turn to the charity rather than asking family or friends for a loan because ‘when we give, we don’t ask for it back.’