Westmeath based company Roadstone Wood Ltd, which is owned by CRH, is to donate €7,000 to Simon Community projects in the county this year, through a safety in the workplace initiative with the homelessness charity.
Nationally, CRH, the leading building materials company and parent company of Roadstone Wood, has donated an additional €401,947 to the Simon communities in Ireland this year, bringing the total raised since the partnership began in 2007 to €2,927,980.
The CRH Simon Safety Challenge is an all-island initiative that assists Simon in tackling homelessness both north and south of the border. The three-year partnership started in 2007 and at the end of 2009, CRH committed to extend the partnership for an extra year to help address homelessness in Ireland whilst encouraging CRH employees to improve their health and safety record.
In 2007, the partnership generated €777,062, in 2008 it generated €842,355, and 2009 saw €906,658 raised for the Simon communities.
Jim Farrell, Roadstone Wood Ltd managing director said: “As Roadstone Wood is one of the largest building materials companies in Leinster, the area of homelessness and housing provision was a natural fit for our business. The CRH Simon Safety Challenge initiative involved the entire workforce, and linked donations to the local Simon community to safety performance, something we place huge importance on. We were therefore delighted to be in a position to extend the partnership into 2010. On behalf of CRH, I would like to thank both Simon Community volunteers in Westmeath for their excellent work on the important issue of homelessness and our employees at the various Roadstone Wood locations for their commitment to this worthy cause over the last four years.”
Commenting on the success of the initiative, Tony O’Riordan, CEO of Midlands Simon Community, said: “The Simon Community is about believing in people; believing in the people who turn to the eight local Simon communities around the country every day, believing in the thousands of volunteers and Simon supporters, and believing that with the appropriate housing, care, and support people can and do leave homelessness behind. The Simon communities in Ireland and Simon Community Northern Ireland wish to thank CRH’s companies and employees who participated in the CRH Simon Safety Challenge since the beginning of the partnership. It is donations such as these which make the work of Simon possible; with the generous support of CRH we have been able to provide vital support for people who are homeless and those at risk of homelessness throughout Ireland.”
