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If you were to sit in one of the comfy chairs at Croí na Gaillimhe Resource Centre in Galway, you’d feel welcome at once. No matter who you are or where you're from, you’d feel the love between these walls. This is how your kindness is combatting loneliness and looking after people in the heart of Galway…
Bridget was born in Tyrone. But after 49 years, she’s a firm Galwegian. She was a nurse all her life, but now she's retired and widowed, she struggles with being alone.
Bridget has been coming to Croí na Gaillimhe for three years now. "My family visit when they can. But coming here means I have other people to talk to, and you can have a lovely lunch," she says.
Bridget considers Croí na Gaillimhe a second home. And she’s not alone...
“It was a lonely life”
Before Eilish started coming, there were days, even weeks, where she didn’t speak to another living soul. "I was doing nothing but sitting in the corner of the room all day,” says Eilish. “It was a very lonely, isolated life.”
But everything changed when a district nurse suggested she pop by the Croí na Gaillimhe Resource Centre. And thanks to your kindness, she was welcomed like family…
"I was a bit nervous going on my own, but from the moment I walked through the door, my life completely changed… Coming here makes me feel I belong somewhere." That was over 10 years ago…
400 warm welcomes each week
Eilish now welcomes other newcomers with the open arms she herself felt when she first came to the centre. People like Cathal…
When his wife, who suffers from dementia, moved to a nursing home, Cathal didn’t know what to do with himself. That’s when his worried daughter contacted Croí na Gaillimhe.
Cathal — who could talk the hind legs off a donkey! — attends social clubs and is finding new friends at Croí na Gaillimhe, thanks to you.
A message from Cathal’s grateful daughter:
Dad LOVES lunch club... You have really been a lifeline for him during our difficult time. Thanks for all you’re doing, Croi na Gaillimhe!
The centre welcomes around 400 people like Cathal every week. With programmes for older people like social clubs, twice-weekly dinners, computer and art classes, chair yoga, and so much more, Croí na Gaillimhe is a place where people like Cathal — who may otherwise feel completely alone — can find friendship, thanks to you.
But that’s far from the only way your steadfast support of SVP is tackling loneliness and social isolation in Galway and all across Ireland…
Help. Hope. Dignity. You.
When staff and volunteers recognised an urgent need in the community, they introduced homework clubs for children in direct provision and English language classes for migrants.
And now, your generosity is bringing practical hope and support to families who've fled the most devastating situations.
Reza talks to us on the second floor where English classes take place, his wife, Nadia, sits beside him. Cradled in his arms is their baby girl…
She has a little yellow bow around her head, and he strokes her tiny hand as he speaks to us in English that, thanks to your kindness, is improving every day. “I came here without a word of English Croí na Gaillimhe helped me learn it,” says Reza. “We are grateful for this kindness… people here, they are like family. Very good people,” adds Nadia.
An open door. A warm welcome. And a place where help, hope and humanity can always be found… thank you for being the heart of SVP’s work.
