Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I will be 90 years of age on 12 January 2016 and am in the very fortunate position to be healthy and to have everything that I need materially, including a comfortable and warm home to live in. Others are not so fortunate so instead of receiving gifts for my birthday I would be delighted if family and friends would make a donation instead to the Simon Community.

The Simon Community work to prevent and address homelessness in Ireland. Homelessness can mean sleeping rough, staying in emergency hostels or shelters, staying in temporary bed and breakfast accommodation or staying with friends and relatives when there is nowhere else to go. Homelessness is all of these things. For people experiencing homelessness it is about a lack of security, a lack of belonging and often about being cold, sick and isolated.The current economic climate means more people are at risk of homelessness than ever before with further cut backs in health, education, welfare services and training more people will become homeless and turn to the Simon Communities for support.

Simon delivers support and service to over 5,000 individuals and families who experience - or are at risk of - homelessness on an annual basis. 

The Simon Communities throughout Ireland provide the best possible care, accommodation and support for people experiencing homelessness and those at risk. They provide services at all stages of homelessness and enable people to move to a place they can call home. Together, with people who are homeless, Simon tackles the root causes, promotes innovative responses and urges the government to fulfil their commitments.

The Simon Communities of Ireland is an affiliation of local Communities in Cork, Dublin, Dundalk, Galway, the Midlands, the Mid West, the North West and the South East.

At Simon, they listen to people who turn to them for help and do everything they can to support them to move out of homelessness into independent living. They strive to empower people to access, secure and retain a home of their own by reducing the reliance on short-term emergency accommodation and providing permanent supported housing for people to sustain a home in their local community. Moving people into supported housing produces life-enhancing and life-saving results and is more cost-effective in the long run.

The Simon Community works to influence local and national government and lobby for change.  

Simon 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.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.