IRD Duhallow working for the community ‘now more than ever’
IRD IS CO-ORDINATING EFFORTS IN DUHALLOW AND ASKS COMMUNITY GROUPS TO MAKE CONTACT
I’M writing to you to let you know that IRD Duhallow is open for business and supporting the local community during the COVID-19 crisis.
Our staff are busy at the moment adapting our services to meet the changing needs of our local communities during this challenging time. As you may know, IRD Duhallow operates a comprehensive range of social inclusion, employment services and rural development programmes.
We know that many of the people we work with are struggling with the isolation, employment or other issues associated with the current restrictions and want to let you all know we are here to help and support communities, families and individuals.
IRD Duhallow, now more than ever, will work to ensure that our own essential services in the community are not only maintained but expanded to meet the new demand in our region. We are responding rapidly to current circumstances and our social inclusion, employment services and community development teams are supporting the vulnerable, individuals and community groups as well as offering our services to the general public who are self-isolating to protect themselves and others, wherever needed.
Our
operates from the James O’Keeffe Complex in Newmarket and provides a wash, dry and iron service. This will help to reduce the burden on
Community Laundry
carers and older people along with families in general in the community with collections and deliveries to assist those self-isolating.
Our friendly
which has been operating for10 years is now needed more than ever before. If you know of someone living alone or feeling isolated and lonely and would like to chat with someone on a daily/ weekly basis then we can arrange this. For both of these services contact 029-60633.
service phone call Duhallow Community Food Services
has expanded its Meals on Wheels Service as well as providing take-out meals for anyone in the wider Duhallow region, in response to the current crisis. Meals are being delivered Monday – Friday with the option of taking extra chilled meals also. Again if you, or someone you know, could benefit from our meals service either on a temporary or more permanent basis please contact DCFS @ 02976375.
DCFS also has a large selection of nutritional meals available to pre order for take away for both individual or family portion sizes which will ease the burden on individuals and families at this time. Dinners such as chicken curry, shepherd’s pie are a sample of the meals that can be prepared for families along with various breads and cakes also.
Our
Afterschool’s Service and Warmer Homes Scheme
are currently closed and various training programmes postponed with participants from the various schemes who worked on these programmes coming on board to ensure that our priority services can expand to meet increasing demands across the region.
We have deployed staff from within IRD Duhallow to ensure that these front line services are maintained and expanded to meet the region’s needs. We strongly urge you to promote these community services to all those in your community who need them.
I would also ask that those of you on Facebook and Instagram share our post on your own community accounts to let people know that support is available to them at this
Photos: Sheila Fitzgerald
time.
In addition to supporting individuals in the communities around, we are also here to support businesses and organisations who will be finding it difficult to deal with some of challenges thrown up by the crisis. While many businesses are having to shut down temporarily, others are looking to take on more staff at this time. Through the employment services we provide through our we can help them access skilled and experienced people here in Duhallow and we can outline supports for those closing or having to reinvent their services through our Skillnet programme.
Communities in Duhallow have always been resilient in coming together and getting
Job Centre,
things done but we all now need to come together more than ever before, to support each other and get through the pandemic that is Covid 19.
Ireland’s National Action Plan on COVID-19 (Coronavirus) has tasked local development companies like IRD Duhallow to work closely with the Department of Community and Rural Development to coordinate the community and volunteering response to the current public health emergency.
For the Duhallow Region IRD Duhallow is seeking your support. We want to harness the energy and generosity of people who have come forward to offer support to people in the community who require assistance and advice.
By co-ordinating this approach for the Duhallow region we will be able to ensure that a coordinated, safe and reliable volunteer support network is available to those in need and that they know who to contact for advice and support. This will help to complement much of the voluntary work which is already starting to take place locally.
We would ask that ALL community and voluntary groups in the region would contact us to let us know what they can do and are doing in their own communities and across the region. If you know of people willing to volunteer please urge them to contact us so we have suitable volunteers in place if and when the need arises in Duhallow.
This will ensure that there is a blanket of support for the Duhallow region and will help us to identify quickly where there are gaps and address these.
We will also be promoting all the community efforts in the next issue of Discover Duhallow which will be available to the public on Friday 3rd April and is helping to reach out to everyone in their homes at present. Our online version will also be available on our website and previous versions are also available online.
As you may be aware, IRD Duhallow is one of 49 Local Development Companies that comprise the Irish Local Development Network CLG (ILDN). Like IRD Duhallow, these are all not-for-profit, multi-sectoral partnerships that deliver community and rural development, labour market activation, social inclusion and social enterprise services across the country. Last year, the network supported more than 15,000 communities and community groups and 173,000 individuals across the country and we are re-doubling our efforts to help as many people as we can during this current national crisis.
Thank you in advance for your support at this important time and for the support you will all give to your elderly and vulnerable people”.