'People no better off now than during recession' - SVDP

MANY families in Donegal are no better off now than they were during the recession according to a Donegal branch of St Vincent de Paul.

Last year the 66 Donegal conferences/branches of the organisation disbursed more than €150,000 to people in the county to help with the purchase of food and heating, illness poverty and education costs.

According to the Regional President of SVDP in Donegal, Rosa Glackin, despite the improvement in the national economic figures, calls to the organisation remain at a very high level.

She said families and individuals who are unemployed or on low wages are struggling to meet day-to-day living costs. Ms Glackin said SVDP was appealing to those in need to get in touch rather than get themselves into debt.

With the annual St Vincent de Paul Appeal launched nationally Ms Glackin also appealed to the people of the county to be their “usual generous selves”.

“We are here to help and I would encourage anyone in difficulty to contact their local branch, confidentiality is guaranteed. It is thanks to the generosity of so many people that we are able to give that help.

“When you look at the fact that Ireland is among the fifth richest countries in the OECD and there are more than 780,000 people nationally living in poverty, scale that to the population of Donegal and it is a lot of people really struggling.

“Nationally SVDP are receiving 1,000 calls a day to their offices around the country which highlights the level of need,” Ms Glackin said.

This year’s SVDP theme is ‘save someone from a life of poverty’ which emphasises the effect of poverty on children and their future.

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