As donations to its annual appeal are down on average between 20 and 25 per cent compared with last year, the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP ) has made a renewed plea to the Irish public for support in the last week before Christmas. Donations to the SVP can be made locally or online at www.svp.ie
Geoff Meagher, SVP national president, said: “Our 11,000 volunteer members in parish-based units, the local conferences of the society, are dealing with a considerable increase in demand for help. Calls for assistance to the SVP have more than doubled in the past five years.
“Additional resources to deal with this increase have been required and through the generosity of the Irish public the direct assistance we have been able to provide to those in need has increased from €24m in 2007 to €43m last year.”
As always, the society “will respond and give help and we hope the public will be as generous to us as they can be,” he said.
