Waterford homeless charity made homeless vow to continue service

Waterford Helping the Homeless, a voluntary group operating in Waterford City, are determined to keep Waterford City’s homeless population fed at all costs.

After being made homeless themselves last week, the group decided to keep going with their mission to feed the homeless and give them a helping hand outside, rather than in their previous premises at the Maranatha Community Centre in Railway Square.

The Waterford News & Star visited the centre on the charity’s last day indoors, speaking with the volunteers running the service and those availing of the service to hear about their next steps.

“We’re down but we’re not out yet,” Susie Moran, co-founder and volunteer at Waterford Helping the Homeless told our reporter, adding that alongside other volunteers, she will continue to feed clients in a carpark by Railway Square every morning until a place becomes available to them.

“The lads are not going to just disappear. Just because we’re closed, it doesn’t mean that we can forget about the lads, they’re still going to need their cup of tea in the morning,” she said, “We can’t do much for them, but at least we can do this.” 

A stigma keeping doors shut

It’s a stigma against homeless people that has pushed the group onto the streets and has stopped them from getting a new set-up, Susie explained, saying that “nobody wants the homeless on their doorstep.”

“There’s a lot of red tape in relation to homeless people, because people think that homeless people are all drug addicts,” she said.

Like with all groups, Susie continued, “you’ll get one or two that’ll upset the apple cart,” but most of her clients are “quiet lads”.

“We’re here since 2019, and we’ve never had trouble, once or twice with petty things but there was never any serious incidents or anything.”

“They’re not animals,” she continued, “and they deserve to be fed.” 

"If you left a dog out on the street with no shelter and no food, you’d be arrested and you’d be brought to court for animal cruelty, but it’s perfectly okay to leave humans out on the street with no food or water?”

They often see 40 people during their breakfast mornings, Susie said, whether it’s homeless individuals, people with mental health difficulties, or those suffering with substance abuse.

Christmas is a particularly busy time for Susie and the other volunteers, she said, with some years seeing 80 people coming to Waterford Helping the Homeless on Christmas Day for support.

“That’s the sad thing,” she said, “we’ve nowhere to go for Christmas dinner this year.”

Although she’s aware other charity groups in the city offer a Christmas meal for the homeless, like St. Joseph’s, she said these services are only offered in the mornings, leaving her clients to wander the streets on Christmas Day alone if Waterford Helping the Homeless still hasn’t found a home.

More than a bite to eat

“It’s such a loss to the lads because we’re their family group,” Susie told our reporter, “It's not just about feeding people. Anybody could hand out a cup of tea you know, but it's the togetherness here.”

“If the lads never had a cup of tea, they’d still come in anyway,” Susie added, gesturing to the room of volunteers and service users working together to pack up and move out.

Some smaller furniture pieces could be held in Susie’s home until a new premises is found, and some have been given to other charitable organisations in the city, but most of the group’s frozen food, furniture and equipment has had to be thrown out, “everything that we fundraised for, everything is just gone.”

“And I know when we do get a place,” Susie continued, “they’ll (service users) help out and get that together for us as well.” 

One service user who was helping to fill the skip and clear up after breakfast told our reporter that if it wasn’t for Susie and her team, he would have nowhere to warm up after a cold, wet night in his tent.

When the service was operating as normal, clients could arrive in the morning and use the bathroom to freshen up after a night of rough sleeping, often being handed a change of warm, dry clothes and a chance to prepare for the day ahead.

Now, their mornings remain cold.

“To see this go,” he said, “it’s actually heartbreaking.” 

Having used the service on and off for a number of years, he said it’s about more than just a bite to eat, with Susie and her team offering a chat and a chance to relax after a hard night.

“It helps your head,” he added, “My mental health is bad, so I come in here for a chat with the lads, and that’s what helps me.”

Volunteers and service users reiterated this notion many times throughout the morning, with one service user saying, “You come through them doors a stranger, and you leave as a friend. It’s like we built a little family here for the odd years that we've been here.”

Another said he’s still come by to help Susie and her team even when he’s housed, “it’s sad to see this,” he said, “throwing the likes of Susie out on the road, it’s very, very wrong.”

“Despite what we are going through at the moment,” a volunteer added, “this family can never be broken up.”

“It’s just horrendous to be honest,” Susie said, “Like, I mean, at the end of the day, I'm only a normal person. I'm only a normal person, as are all the volunteers here.”

Susie finished by expressing her gratitude to the Maranatha Community Centre who have housed Waterford Helping the Homeless for the last seven years, and by highlighting the group's gofundme campaign, which has been set up to help them start over when a new premises becomes available.

Waterford City and County Councillor David Daniels told the Waterford News & Star work is ongoing with Waterford City and County Council in the search for accommodation for the service, saying he will continue to engage with the council and relevant bodies to find a suitable resolution and provide assistance and support to Susie and her team in the meantime.

Waterford City and County Council were approached for comment, but had not issued a statement by the time of print.