By Gerard Lynch, Area President of Mid-County
Having been a member of the St Vincent De Paul Society for the past twelve years, I sometimes think that the challenges facing a rural conference have changed very little over that time. Probably the biggest and most ongoing challenge must be to seek and find those who are forgotten in close knit rural communities, while maintaining the confidentiality that is the hallmark of the Society's work.
Sometimes we must take our courage in our hands, and make the first contact with families or individuals we believe may be in difficulty. This initial contact may often take place outside the family home. Indeed one of our own conference members has done some of his best visitation work on the village footpath while engaged in what would appear to be casual conversation.
Neither any of my fellow conference members nor myself have ever encountered any negative reaction when we have initiated first contact on behalf of the Society
The introduction of a designated mobile telephone number has also proved invaluable for many rural conferences; we just need to make sure that these telephone numbers are not a closely guarded secret!
As a rural conference we also need to look at issues when providing support that urban conferences may not face. For example cost of transport, higher food bills due to lack of access to discount stores maintenance of family members in 3rd level education who must live away from the family home and of course the issue of rural isolation must not be forgotten.
For the first time since joining the Society, I have seen our conference provide assistance to families who had hit complete rock bottom. The distress that this cause to conference members must not be underestimated, as many members who have joined the Society within the past two to 3 years would not have seen this type of need before.
Over the past number of years some wonderful initiatives have been put in place in many rural areas which catered for the social and other need s of those aged 55 and over. In many instances the visitation work of some rural conferences had been made almost redundant with regard to this age group as there were so many activities available to them.
Many of these programmes will now see their funding severely curtailed and in some instances completely disappear, this will be done without any fanfare so it behoves both rural and urban conferences to be vigilant as many in this age group may once more find themselves being gradually isolated.
I also can not stress the importance of communication between neighbouring rural conferences as sometimes boundaries may be blurred and those who may need our assistance may be left unsupported.