Focus Ireland Shine a Light Night 2013 – Ireland’s Business leaders highlighting homelessness
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Focus Ireland would like to start by thanking our sponsors Aviva and the 55 business leaders who took part in last year’s inaugural event in Dublin. Together they raised over €370,000, without which we would not have been able to reach the 8,000 people who benefitted from our services in 2012. Due to the success of last year’s event we are expanding Shine a Light 2013 to include a Cork venue – Cork City Gaol – both events will be held on October 18th this year. A big thank you to John Reynolds (KBC), Ronan Harris (Google), Geoff Scully (Littlewoods), John Moloney (Glanbia), Siobhan Finn (Cork Innovates), and Dan Kiely (Voxpro) who are helping to champion this year’s event.
If you would like to register, please contact Thos O’Leary on 021 425 1731 or email olearyt@focusireland.ie . Alternatively pop into our Cork offices on 80a South Mall.
Focus Ireland’s Prevention Services There are as many as 5,000 people in Ireland who are homeless at any one time. Approximately 100 of these are people who we see rough sleeping. Most people who are homeless in Ireland are living in temporary accommodation that may be unsafe or unsuitable. It may surprise you to learn that 1 in 7 people accessing homeless services is a child. Focus Ireland works to end homelessness by providing 60 services across Ireland with advice and information centres in Cork, Dublin, Kilkenny, Kildare, Limerick, Sligo, Waterford and Wexford. Focus Ireland have been operating in Cork since 1997. We offer individuals and families, advice, support, education and housing to help people to have and keep a home. We believe that everyone has a right to a place they can call home and we campaign to address the causes of homelessness.
Our work benefited over 8,000 people last year.
Focus Ireland staff work with young people whose relationships with their families have broken down, and help them build independent lives and rebuild relationships. We work with those who have grown up in state care, with families in emergency accommodation and take particular care to support children in crisis situations. We work with people who are on the streets, building trust and helping them to return to secure accommodation. Shine a Light Night – what’s involved? To participate in Shine a Light Night we ask that you raise €5,000 for Focus Ireland’s prevention services and sleep out for a night in Dublin or Cork. Shine a Light Night begins at 7pm with a short talk on homelessness in Ireland. Then, participants progress to Shine a Light locations (Iveagh Gardens in Dublin and Cork City Gaol in Cork). These will be closed to the public, only Shine a Light Night participants will be permitted access. Security will be in place throughout the night, along with first aiders and some basic services such as lighting, toilets and a small canopy in case of stormy weather. Soup and sandwiches will be provided for participants at 10.30pm. The event finishes up at 7am.
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