CROSSCARE APPEAL
Crosscare COVID-19 (Coronavirus) update
CROSSCARE
Crosscare’s focus has always been to serve the most vulnerable in our society. During this crisis we are working hard to ensure that the essential services we provide remain available to our service users while operating in line with Government and HSE advice to ensure that our service users and staff are protected.
While some of our face to face services have had to be adapted to meet HSE requirements, as much as possible we are continuing to provide supports through other remote means including phone and web based technologies.
Homeless Services
Our Homeless Services including our residential facility for young people are open and operating normally and in line with HSE guidelines. We are working closely with the HSE, DRHE, Tusla and other government bodies, local authorities and colleagues in other similar organisations to ensure that our service users’ needs are supported and our people are kept safe.
Crosscare opened a new inner city 100 bed cocooning services for people who are homeless to keep them safe from the virus.
Food Services
Our Food Banks remain open to support those most in need at this difficult time and we have made changes at a local level to ensure that the health of all involved is safeguarded.
Close to 7,000 emergency food parcels have been delivered to vulnerable individuals and families as a crisis response since the pandemic began.
Our Community Cafes remain open providing takeaway services to protect the health of our teams and customers.
Our Carecall team are operating a normal service making calls daily to all our clients.
Youth Services
Youth services had to close initially and staff were redeployed to help keep the essential food and residential services running. Services are now open with a greater emphasis on on line and telephone work and working more intensely with smaller numbers of particularly vulnerable young people.
Our Drugs and Alcohol Programme team are carrying out online sessions with their clients.
Our Voluntary Clubs team continue to link in with and support our volunteers by phone and other web-based technologies.
Please support this important work if you can by taking an envelope from the back of the Church or donating on-line at www.crosscare.ie
Please find attached a letter from Archbishop Martin to be read at all Masses next weekend
LETTER OF ARCHBISHOP DIARMUID MARTIN IN SUPPORT OF THE
CROSSCARE APPEAL
TO BE READ AT ALL MASSES ON SEPTEMBER 19th and 20th 2020
My Dear People,
This weekend the Annual Collection to support the work of Crosscare takes place and replaces the Share Collection at all Masses. Now more than ever before Crosscare need our help to sustain their critical services to people in need. This current pandemic has put enormous pressure on the agency as it strives to reconcile increasing demands on services with cuts in funding across the board. Crosscare are determined to continue to offer the care and support we know them for and thousands of young people, families and service users need them to continue.
Crosscare is the social support agency of the Archdiocese of Dublin and sets out to ease the harsh burden that so many feel. This year of 2020 has been extraordinary and I am very proud of the way the staff and volunteers in Crosscare have responded to the challenges. Quickly, in March, Crosscare adjusted to the Covid threat. To ensure that all of their vulnerable clients and services users remained safe services were adjusted and a new 100 bed cocooning service for particularly vulnernable homeless people was established.
Where services could not be adapted to allow face to face contact they moved to telephone and on line support. New initiatives particularly in the area of food support were provided for thousands of families who were unable to cope in the initial stages of the pandemic. Where services had to close, staff were quickly redeployed to support the front line residential and food supports that were under enormous pressure.
What needs to be done is being done without hesitation. However, Crosscare like many other charities are now finding it difficult to sustain their efforts due to shortfalls in funding.
Crosscare needs our help now more than ever before. Please give as generously as you can in the collection today by donating at the back of the church, taking away one of the free post envelopes and posting a contribution or by giving on line at www.crosscare.ie
Yours sincerely
+ Diarmuid Martin,
Archbishop of Dublin.
