SVP facing twin crises in recession

One of the major frontline voluntary organisations dealing with the poor and disadvantaged in the north-east - the St Vincent de Paul (SVP) - is facing a major recruitment and fundraising challenge as it struggles to cope with the effects of the growing recession and soaring unemployment. Many conferences (branches) of the organisation have seen demands for its services grow by one-third in recent months as the national unemployment rate - now at over 250,000 - jumped to a seven-year high at the end of October. The latest live register figures show a total of almost 6,000 people now signing on in County Meath. But it is also faced with a crisis in membership numbers, its regional president, Michael O"Keeffe, has warned. Unless the SVP is able to increase its current membership of 800 in 80 branches in Meath, Louth, Cavan and Monaghan in the next few years - and change the age profile to younger participants - many branches may have to shut down. The region"s St Vincent de Paul president, who is from Crossakiel, Kells, recently warned members of the major challenges facing them, including the effects of the current recession and encouraging young people to join up. Mr O"Keeffe told a major conference in the Headfort Arms Hotel in Kells that he wants members in urban and rural branches to ensure that their activities are of such a volume and quality that they maintain the interest of the existing members and attract new ones. But he also told them that failure to address the issues over the next 10 years would potentially result in the shutdown of conferences as membership evaporates. National president Mairead Bushnell told the same conference that, if the society was not expanded, it would not exist in 10 years" time. 'Now is the time to take action and protect our future and that of those we help,' she told the same meeting. The organisation collected a total of €2 million in the four counties in 2007. However, the newly-arrived recession and rising unemployment has seen a huge leap in the demand for its services. For instance, the Navan conference has given out more assistance in the last nine months than it would have distributed in the previous year. 'We are very limited in what we can do for people in difficulty with mortgages, except to point them in the right direction for advice, but we may be able to help with putting food on the table, and with educational needs,' Mr O"Keeffe said. 'Some of us have been through previous recessions, and we know what it is like. We are very worried about our age profile. We have many, many members who have given wonderful service to the people over several decades. But, over the last few years, we can see that we have not enough younger members.' Mr O"Keeffe said that the organisation must simply get itself into a position where it is ready to meet the future needs of people in the community. He wants the establishment of a conference development group to help those that need it and to establish new ones. He points to 'encouraging' developments in two local schools - Eureka Secondary School in Kells and St Louis in Carrickmacross - where young people are involved in vigorous conferences. 'Many young people need to be challenged about the world around them and they are very willing to give of themselves if they are encouraged in the right direction. But there is a challenge for the existing membership - we have to make participation an attractive proposition,' he said. The St Vincent de Paul is running projects in several schools in an attempt to attract transition year students, in particular. 'We simply have to get more people from the 20s, 30s and 40s age groups. That is our aim and we will be going at it very hard to achieve that. We have various ideas for getting people to join, but they have to be attractive. The idea is to create a challenge for them, one that they can commit themselves to. And they will find it a really rewarding experience,' he added.