Drogheda Cares For The Homeless has been nominated in The BIG Christmas Giveback – and they need your nominations to win a share of €1500 in Love Drogheda Gift Cards
A Drogheda based voluntary organisation supporting people experiencing homelessness and food poverty has been nominated in a national competition, The BIG Christmas Giveback, which aims to shine a light on the positive work happening in local communities.
The person or organisation with the most nominations in the competition by November 28th at midnight will win €1000 in Town & City Gift Cards, such as the Love Drogheda Gift Card, with one person who nominated them winning a €500 gift card.
Drogheda Cares For The Homeless is based near St. Peter’s Church and provides food parcels, clothing and other necessities for people in need.
Charlene Thornton from Drogheda Cares For The Homeless said: “The group was started 8 years ago by a group of women who had noticed a need for support for people experiencing homelessness and poverty. From that very first Facebook post we put out asking if people had any clothes to donate or time they’d be willing to spare to volunteer, the support we’ve had from the Drogheda community has been fantastic. We have a rota each week for volunteers who are cooking, baking and preparing sandwiches for us, we couldn’t do what we do without their support.
“With the cost of living, there has been a real increase in food poverty. We support a wide variety of people, from those with addiction issues to working families that don’t have enough food and having to make that awful decision between heating and eating. On a typical night, we’ll hand out up to 40 meals. We try our best but there is always the worry that we won’t have enough supplies. As we head into winter and the colder weather, we’ll see a further influx of people needing support.
“If someone is on the street, it’s easy to have an opinion about why they’re there. Our aim is to treat each person like a human being, to help with food and essential items but also to pass the time of day and ask how they are. Often, people that once accessed our services come back to us and say ‘you have no idea the impact you had’.
“Our volunteers put blood, sweat and tears into Drogheda Cares For The Homeless and to know that someone has taken the time to nominate us in The BIG Christmas Giveback means the world. The Love Drogheda Gift card is a fantastic initiative because it supports local businesses, who in turn give back to our community. It’s the local businesses who keep organisations like ours afloat. If we won the competition, we’d use the Love Drogheda Gift Card to buy the essential items we hand out to people, like toiletries, clothes, sleeping bags and tents, and of course, food.”
Led by Love Drogheda BID, the Love Drogheda Gift Card can be spent with over 240 local businesses and is available to buy for both consumers and organisations. Over €736,000 of cards have been sold to date, all supporting Drogheda businesses.
Trevor Connolly, CEO of Love Drogheda BID, said: “It is fantastic to read this nomination for Drogheda Cares For The Homeless, a voluntary based organisation making a positive difference in our community. To win this national competition, they need your votes, so please take a moment to nominate at lovelocalwin.ie by the 28th November at midnight.”
The Love Drogheda Gift Card is part of the award winning Town & City Gift Card concept from fintech Miconex active across Ireland.
Colin Munro is the CEO of Miconex and said: “Since its launch, the Love Drogheda Gift Card has given back to the town by making it easy to support local businesses including shops, restaurants, bars, salons and hotels in Drogheda. As cards have to be spent in Drogheda, it gives people and organisations a local option for gifts, rewards and incentives. The BIG Christmas Giveback is also about giving back. Congratulations to Drogheda Cares For The Homeless for their nomination.”
Nominate a person or organisation in The BIG Christmas Giveback at: www.lovelocalwin.ie
