On Friday 29th of November, Minister of State with special responsibility for Housing and Planning, Jan O’Sullivan, officially turned the sod on NOVAS’ Brother Russell House redevelopment. The service, which has been providing supported accommodation for homeless men for 35 years is being demolished and replaced with a purpose-built facility. Dormitory-style accommodation will be replaced by single ensuite rooms which, CEO Michael Goulding believes is ‘the least that someone who has been living there for years or even decades deserves.’

The service will increase capacity from 26 to 33, and will provide long-term supported housing for men and women. Until now the service was exclusively for homeless men. In 2012, some 55% of clients accessing NOVAS’ accommodation services were women, so opening this service to women will meet increasing demand.

At the sod turning, Minister O’Sullivan noted the ‘tremendous’ work being done by NOVAS in tackling the issue of homelessness in Limerick. She stated that NOVAS ‘made a huge difference, in terms of having facilities and services for people who are either homeless or at risk of homelessness.’

The new service will be developed to the tune of €4.4m euros, which was provided by the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government and the JP McManus Charitable Foundation. Without the hughly generous donation by the foundation of €1.75m euros this development would be an unrealised dream. The service will be finished in the latter months of 2014 and will greatly enhance the quality of life of those who avail of it.

Later that afternoon the Minister travelled to The Greenhills Hotel to officially launch NOVAS’ 2012 Annual Report. The report highlighted some startling finding in terms of the numbers accessing its services and the young age profile of its clients.

In 2012, NOVAS provided support for 1,500 families, adults and children. This was an increase of 25% from the previous year. The age profile of the clients also declined with the number of clients accessing accommodation services aged between 18 and 21 years rising by 63% since 2010, meaning that people are becoming trapped in the cycle of homelessness at a very young age. This increase coincided with a reduced social welfare payment to this cohort of €100 per week, making it very difficult for such adults, without family support, to live independently. The report also found that there was an increase in referrals to its Intensive Family Support Service by 236% during 2012, highlighting the deepening impact of the recession on more and more struggling families.

NOVAS CEO, Michael Goulding called on government to stop the cuts to homeless services and to revert the reduced payment to young adults without family support as it is having the unintended consequence of forcing people into or inhibiting their exit from homeless accommodation.

With National Volunteering week in full flight (May 13th – May 19th) it is a fitting occasion to honour those who make the city soup run possible. This week is about recognising the goodwill and the great work done by volunteers across the country.

NOVAS Initiatives Soup Run, co-ordinated on a voluntary basis by staff member Sinead Carey, is run entirely by local volunteers. Seven nights a week, two volunteers meet in NOVAS’ McGarry House to collect the food, which is distributed outside the former Ferguson’s Chemist premises on O’Connell Street.

Because of the exposure the soup run received following the airing of The Secret Millionaire in September 2012 and the generous donation of philanthropist Richard Mulcahy, NOVAS was thereafter in a position to roll-out the service to provide sustenance every night of the week. Prior to this, the service was disbanded at weekends as the funding for food was not available.

Last year some 4,000 meals were distributed to the needy in Limerick City. Not all those in receipt of food were homeless, some were managing to maintain their own accommodation, and the hot meal provided by the NOVAS Soup Run was the difference between being able to continue paying rent and being on the street. Through the extension of the service to 365 days a year and the increasing number of people entrenched in poverty, it is envisioned that the number of meals distributed this year will rise significantly.

Sinead Carey, Deputy Manager of McGarry House, who organises the soup run in her own time says that ‘it is the goodwill of the volunteers and the generosity of The Greenhills Hotel and Foodcourt Catering’, that make the soup run possible and ‘without their commitment to the programme, people would be going hungry.’ She believes National Volunteering Week to be an ideal occasion ‘to extend a heartfelt thank you to all those who graciously give their time to help people less fortunate and those who generously donate to the programme.’

Sinead and Annette O’Carroll (a volunteer on the run) were awarded Limerick Person of the Month last September on behalf of all the volunteers involved in the soup run.

Our very own Sinead and Annette, who were awarded the much coveted Limerick Person of the Month Award in September, along with 11 other worthy contestants, have been nominated for Limerick Person of the Year.

Sinead and Annette are volunteers for NOVAS Initiatives Street Outreach programme, supplying hot meals to people in need in Limerick, 7 nights a week. The Outreach programme, co-ordinated and funded on an entirely voluntary basis, came to prominence, when millionaire Richard Mulcahy came across their good work while secretly filming for RTE’s Secret Millionaire.

The Limerick Person of the Year Awards are being held on 5 March in the Clarion Hotel. All the staff and clients of NOVAS Initiatives would like to wish the girls the very best of luck!!