Mon, 14 December 2015
This Christmas more than 1500 children in Ireland are without a home to call their own as hundreds of families continue to fall into housing difficulties due to challenging economic circumstances and rent increases. To help combat the crisis TV3 and Focus Ireland, today launched the ‘#Hand4Homelessness’ campaign, to raise awareness and some much needed funds for people who find themselves homeless in Ireland.
TV3 is inviting people to take part in a major fundraising initiative. From 9.45am to 5.45pm on Monday 21st December, a giant mural will be erected outside the piazza in front of Bank of Ireland on College Green. People are invited to come along and leave a handprint on the giant mural to show their hand of support for homelessness. If TV3 succeed in collecting over 3000 handprints, it will mean a guaranteed €6000 (€2 per handprint) in donations to Focus Ireland and a new Guinness World Record! An adjudicator from Guinness World Records UK will be present at the event.
For those who can’t make it into College Green for the fundraising initiative, you can show your hand of support by taking a short video or picture showing your unique ‘Hand4Homelessness’ and texting “HAND” to 50300 to donate €2.
The fundraising initiative was kicked off in TV3’s The Seven O’ Clock Show on Monday (14th December) with presenters Lucy Kennedy and Martin King pledging their support for people who are homeless.
Commenting on the launch of TV3’s ‘#Hand4Homelessness’ campaign, Lucy Kennedy, said: “It’s heart-breaking. I couldn’t believe the figures that 70 to 80 families are becoming homeless each month. It’s very worrying and it genuinely could happen to anyone. At Christmas time especially, it must be unbearably hard for these families not having the security of a home. If this campaign can contribute to helping house some of these families, it’ll be a very worthwhile initiative. I’ll be urging all my friends and family to get involved and show their ‘Hand4Homelessness’.”
The campaign will be supported across the week on a number of flagship TV3 programmes, including Ireland AM, Midday, Xposé, The Seven O’ Clock Show, Saturday AM and Sunday AM with presenters such as Lucy Kennedy, Martin King, Karen Koster, Glenda Gilson, Elaine Crowley, Anna Daly, Ivan Yates and many more all taking part and showing their ‘Hand4Homelessness’. A number of other well-known faces have also got involved in the great cause, including model Thalia Heffernan, Red Rock actors Darren Cahill and Stephen Cromwell and Sally Ann Clarke who is also an ambassador for Focus Ireland.
Family homelessness is now at a crisis not seen in recent times in Ireland. More than 1500 children and their 800 families are currently homeless living in unsuitable emergency accommodation in B&B’s and hotel rooms, with whole families often confined to a single room without adequate cooking facilities or somewhere safe for children to play. Living in these circumstances puts a lot of stress on any family. Often impacts on children the most. It can cause anxiety, health and nutrition problems. It also sees some children falling behind in school and makes it almost impossible for the wider family to continue as normal in daily life.
Focus Ireland’s family team works to provide vital support for families and children who are homeless in these terrible situations and this work helps up to 20 families who are homeless to secure a home each month and move on. However, at the same time 70 to 80 new families are still becoming homeless every month along with many single people and Focus Ireland need public support to make sure their services can meet this rising need.
Speaking about the fundraising initiative, Rachel Murphy, Public Fundraising Manager at Focus Ireland said: “#Hand4Homelessness is a wonderful initiative and Focus Ireland are really excited about the campaign which will raise much needed funds to support our work with families and individuals. Demand for our services has risen by 44% in recent years from 8,000 in 2012 to more than 11,500 people we helped last year. This trend has continued this year and we hope the public will get behind TV3’s great new campaign to help our work to tackle and prevent homelessness not just at Christmas but all year around.”
For more information on how you can take part simply log onto www.TV3.ie/hand4homelessness, or join the campaign socially by texting “HAND”, alongside a pic of you or someone you love showing your ‘hand of support’ to 50300. Each text will automatically donate €2 to Focus Ireland.*
Remember to pass your nomination on to your friends and family to encourage them to also show their ‘Hand4Homelessness’ by taking a video or pic and texting “HAND” to 50300 to donate €2 to Focus Ireland.
Comreg T&C’s:
100% of your donation goes to Focus Ireland across most network operators. Some operators apply VAT which means that a minimum of €1.63 will go to Focus Ireland. Service Provider: LIKECHARITY. Helpline: 076 680 5278.
