Peter McVerry Trust, the national housing and homeless charity founded by Fr Peter McVerry has launched its annual Opening Doors fundraising appeal. The appeal, which is organised to coincide with World Homeless Day which this year falls on Sunday 10th October, is a vital fundraiser for the charity ahead of the busy winter period. The charity says that this year’s appeal has taken on even greater importance because of the impact of Covid-19.

Pat Doyle, the charity’s CEO said “Our Opening Doors Appeal is hugely important. It comes just ahead of the busiest time of year for us as we head into winter and it raises really vital funding to ensure we are in a position to respond as best we can to the needs of the vulnerable and marginalised.

“This year has been a really tough for our fundraising events, we lost eight months of the year where we couldn’t organise any of our traditional fundraising events. We also lost vital fundraising opportunities from church gate collections, fundraisers by community groups and also lost out because schools and students weren’t in a position to organise fundraising activities either. That coupled with the wider economic uncertainty has really hit our fundraising income in 2021.”

Better Days Ahead

Mr Doyle said the theme of this year’s appeal is Better Days Ahead, “Given the challenging time people in homelessness have faced and the additional impact of the pandemic our focus is on finding solutions to the challenges people face. This year the Opening Doors Appeal is focused on creating better days ahead for people we work with, be that access to education, securing a housing pathway or getting them access to the basic supports they might need.”

“We really need the public to support our activities this year and help us hit our target of €300,000 over the course of this week and help make a success of our Opening Doors Appeal.”

Supporting the Opening Doors Appeal

Anyone wishing to support the charity’s appeal can do so by donating via the Peter McVerry Trust website or by calling 01 823 0776. Alternatively, the charity is encouraging people to set up their own fundraiser to help raise money to tackle homelessness across Ireland.