This Christmas, Galwegians can buy an essential life-changing gift for people in the community who need extra help this year.
Visit COPE Galway’s online shop www.copegalway.ie/christmas/shop/ and select an item to buy for someone who is experiencing homelessness, domestic abuse, or for an older person in need of social and nutritional support.
The shop contains packs that include personal hygiene kits, home starter and technology kits, arts and craft packs for children, and therapeutic gardening projects.
During the recent level five restrictions, front line staff at COPE Galway have contributed to a project creating a gift shop of items that will make a real difference for people who are experiencing homelessness, domestic abuse or social isolation.
Cope says, as an example, technological disadvantage has become a bigger problem than ever this year and children struggle to do their homework because families do not have a computer or tablet for them to get online; others are left more isolated as they are unable to access services that have moved online.
Lynia O Brien, COPE Galway’s senior fundraising executive, says Cope has wrapped up these ideas into virtual gifts, making its online gift shop a one-stop-shop for people who are seeking new ways to support the people they work with during Covid-19.
"If you are unsure of what to buy someone this Christmas, why not make a difference by considering a creative gift that helps improve the lives of people who are most vulnerable in Galway?" she says.
COPE Galway is a local organisation with a vision for a community where every person is valued, cared for and supported at every stage of life. COPE Galway understands, respects and responds to the needs of people who struggle with the challenges of homelessness and domestic abuse and supports older people towards healthy and active ageing.
In 2019, COPE Galway worked with 2,984 vulnerable people in Galway. This included 1,189 adults and 433 children affected by homelessness, (187 families and 868 single people ). It also worked with 638 individual women and their children who were experiencing domestic abuse, produced and delivered 61,016 meals to older clients and to its services around Galway and worked with 724 older people at risk of isolation.
