Athlone Towncentre is a leading example of how, by working in partnership with the community, a real difference can be made to the lives of those in the community who need help and support.
Over the last year, Athlone Towncentre helped to raise over €4,000 for Midlands Simon Community, which will greatly assist their work to eliminate homelessness right across the Midlands.
Midlands Simon helps people to move out of homelessness by providing a range of services including emergency accommodation, supporting people to source a home, assisting people to move into their new home, and ongoing supports to enable people maintain their new home and move out of homelessness.
Midlands Simon also helps people to overcome the many other issues faced by those who are homeless such as health and welfare needs, poverty, loneliness, and isolation. To date Midlands Simon has now supported over 700 people across the Midlands, and last year 40 people used their emergency accommodation service in Athlone.
CEO of Midlands Simon, Tony O’Riordan, said “On behalf of Midlands Simon Community, and all the people we are working with, I would like to say a huge thank you to Athlone Towncentre, and Shirley Delahunt in particular, for their fantastic support. The type of example and support they have shown has been a very significant boost to our work. It is all the more appreciated given the very challenging times we are all experiencing. It is only with the kind of support shown by Athlone Towncentre that Midlands Simon will be able to continue to provide essential services to those experiencing homelessness. It is fantastic to see such willingness on the part of the business community to work in partnership to support those in our community who need help.”
Speaking on behalf of Athlone Towncentre, Shirley Delahunt said, “We are always delighted to assist community groups and charitable organisations in any way we can at Athlone Towncentre. In particular we recognise the great work being done in the region by the Midland Simon Community and look forward to working with them in the future”.
Mr O’Riordan added; “We would also like to take the opportunity to highlight the very significant support we received from the state agencies throughout 2009, and acknowledge the fact that the Government has committed to maintain the level of funding in the budget for homeless services at the same level as last year. In a time of unprecedented financial difficulties, this shows a clear willingness on the part of Minister Finneran to tackle the issue of homelessness and also to try to insulate the most vulnerable from the worst effects of the recession”.
For further information please contact Cormac P Lally at [email protected] or (087 ) 9925083.
