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Dear Friend,
When I first met Kathleen, she was utterly distraught. She had nothing, and had no one to turn to. But the tears that poured down her face that day, weren’t for her own troubles, but for her remarkable daughter Emily.
Emily was incredibly bright, was top of her 6th Year class and had her heart set on going to College to study nursing. But the money Kathleen needed to make that happen simply wasn’t there.
Emily’s future was being decided, not by her ability, or her success in school, but by poverty and hardship.
That’s why Kathleen had summoned all her courage to come in and ask if there was anything SVP could do to help. And thanks to incredible people like you, there was.
Because every year, the extraordinary support of SVP supporters like you provides further education and training bursaries, to help young people in your county, and all over Ireland, get the life-changing education they would otherwise be denied.
Will you make a vital and incredibly powerful gift today and help give a young person like Emily the education that can break their cycle of poverty once and for all?
My name is Michael and as a volunteer with The Society of St Vincent de Paul, I see this all the time. Smart, gifted young people being denied the same chances that others take for granted.
Just because they come from a disadvantaged background.
And the most joyous part of my work is seeing your incredible generosity turning that around and transforming the lives and futures of amazing young people like Emily.
Kathleen had been through so much before coming to us. Married to an extremely coercive and controlling man, she and her daughters Emily and Caoimhe had lived lives of quiet desperation and secret poverty.
On the outside, they looked like just another family living an ordinary life. But on the inside, he controlled everything. He humiliated her constantly, isolated her from her friends and family, and made sure she had no money and no life.
She told me, “It was like he threw us scraps from his table. And when the breakup came, it was bad, but the marriage was worse.”
Kathleen had left her husband before, a few years earlier. But he had managed to separate her from any kind of support. After a few months she ended up in hospital because of the stress.
“I suppose I felt great shame that my marriage of 25 years had failed. And I came from a household where, no matter what was going on, you kept quiet and said nothing. So I told no one and tried to do everything myself. I didn’t even tell my Mam and Dad.” – Kathleen
And so, with nowhere left to turn, Kathleen had no choice but to go back to him. He told her, “I hope you’ve learned your lesson. You can’t survive without me.”
And she had learned a lesson, just not the one he thought. The next time she would ask for help.
The crunch came when Kathleen’s youngest daughter, Caoimhe, threatened to leave the family home.
Kathleen was suffering constant abuse and humiliation. She was exhausted and distressed, and was barely able to function.
“I just couldn’t cope anymore, and when Caoimhe said she wanted to leave the house, I knew I had to do something.”
That was when I first met Kathleen, when I first realised that Emily’s incredibly bright future was under threat, and when your amazing support came to the rescue.
Because the first thing we were able to do was help Kathleen with a bill from Emily’s school that her husband had refused to pay.
He had made it clear to her – “If there is no you and me, there’s no College for them”.
He even wrote Emily a letter saying she wouldn’t be going to college and that it was all her Mam’s fault.
So I made sure to tell Kathleen all about SVP’s Education and Training Bursary Fund, that was put in place specifically to help talented young people like Emily.
These bursaries provide a vital lifeline, with grants of between €1,000 and €3,000 to help with books, materials, travel, course fees and all the other expenses which can push learning out of reach for students struggling to access further education.
So, thanks to the powerful support of incredible people like you, Emily’s dream of going to University became a reality.
And the day Emily started her nursing degree, was the proudest and happiest day of Kathleen’s life.
Will you make a vital gift and help a young person begin their journey to a whole new world of possibility and opportunity?
There were still many more challenges to overcome for Emily, Kathleen, and Caoimhe.
In her first year at college, Emily became seriously ill. Then Covid hit. And there was always pressure from her father who refused to accept he could no longer control her future.
But with the bursary behind her, she knew her place in college was safe. It gave her the confidence and sense of belonging she needed, and Emily is now following a path of her own making.
Emily finished top of her class, and qualified as a nurse with the highest mark available. Now, she is about to put that knowledge to use as she prepares to start her first job in the nursing profession.
Not bad for a girl who may never have had the chance to go to University at all, but for the extraordinary support of kind and caring people like you.
And when the time came for Caoimhe to choose her path in life, Emily’s example and your inspirational support, helped her win a place studying architecture.
Two lives of promise and possibility, nurtured by the generous support and extraordinary human empathy of people like you.
Any gift you choose to make will be cherished and valued, by everyone here at The Society of St Vincent de Paul, but most importantly, by the talented young people whose lives your kindness will help transform.
Students like Emily know just how important your generosity can be in helping them to fulfil their potential.
Along with this letter you’ll find a note from Emily, which I really wanted to share with you. Because in it, she expresses her gratitude in such an honest and heart-felt way.
I hope it will inspire you to support another young person like Emily, and remember, any and every gift, no matter how large or small, is needed, valued and powerful.
We all know how exciting and how much fun further education can be. But it can be a hard road too. Particularly for those who are coming from a place of hardship.
It’s difficult to study when you’re cold, or hungry, or worried about where tomorrow’s bus fare will come from.
And let’s face it, it’s impossible to study if you can’t afford the course fees, or the expensive books you need.
I believe that everyone should be able to get an education, regardless of how much money their family have, or have not. I believe that the life-changing opportunities that education can offer, should be open to everyone.
And I believe that you believe that too.
Kathleen still struggles with everyday expenses. Her husband still doesn’t help with any of her or her daughter’s finances. So, whenever she needs us, we’re here for her.
But her biggest fear in life no longer hangs over her. She’s no longer afraid that her daughters will miss out on life or suffer the same hardship that she did.
And that’s because of you, and people like you.
You can’t undo an education – once you have it, you have it for life. And that can be your gift to another young person like Emily or Caoimhe – a life changed.
Thank you for reading this letter and please, if you can, support this appeal and help another young person escape their cycle of poverty.
With my kindest regards,
Michael,
Volunteer,
Society of St Vincent de Paul
P.S. Your kind donation can make a life-changing difference for a young person struggling to overcome poverty. Please support this appeal and help someone like Emily discover a whole new world of possibilities and opportunities. Thank you!
P.P.S. If you are one of those rare people in a position to make a full bursary gift of €3,000, or more we will send you a personalised Certificate of Patronage as a small token of our profound gratitude. The certificate has been specially designed to recognise, honour and applaud your extraordinary generosity, and we hope you will display it in your home or office with great pride. Thank you so much!
