The most recent Galway Simon Community Sleep Out was a huge success, with over €70,000 raised to help prevent homelessness across Galway.
Earlier this month 162 people spent 12 hours sleeping out at five locations in the city and county to raise funds in Galway Simon’s most high profile event to fund its homelessness services.
This year saw two new locations added for the 4th annual sleep out in Salthill and Moycullen as the number of people in the community taking part continues to grow.
Amy Lavelle of Galway Simon said she felt humbled by the support shown by both participants and the general public on the night.
“We are absolutely blown away by the level of support shown by each host community for this year’s Sleep Out.”
“We’re particularly grateful to our local team leaders for rallying this support and for helping to showcase the true sense of community that we have here in Galway.”
Karen Golden, CEO of Galway Simon paid a visit to each of the Sleep Out locations on October 4 to thank everyone who came out to kip on the street for them.
She said that with the rising number of people in homelessness in Galway who need their assistance, events like this are more important than ever.
“The most recent figures released by the Department of Housing show that there are now 551 people in emergency accommodation in the West of Ireland, including 200 children.”
“Ensuring that we can continue to fund our Homelessness Prevention Services is vital.”
“Those who slept out on October 4th have not only helped to raise crucial funds to extend these services, they have also created an increased level of awareness around the current homelessness crisis we are facing’’. Karen said.
