Volunteers for last year''s Drogheda Homless Aid Sleepout prepare for a long, cold night.

Please donate online or support the DHA flag day on Saturday 7^th

The Drogheda Homeless Aid Christmas Sleepout has been an integral part of Christmas in the Drogheda area for many years but sadly there will be none this year.

The Drogheda Homeless Aid (DHA) organisation has announced this morning that it is having to break with tradition and postpone this year’s Christmas sleepout because of “logistical difficulties”.

The sleepout would normally be held in the run up to Christmas but DHA said that regrettably it would not be able to put on the event this year.

However, the organisation is holding its normal flag day on Saturday 7^th December and has asked the people of Drogheda and surrounding areas to be as generous as possible in order to help keep its services to homeless people going.

A spokesperson for the organisation said that the decision to postpone the sleepout had been taken with great regret. There are pressures on the organisation at present and this has led to difficulties in getting the sleepout together.

A spokesperson for DHA said “We acknowledge our deep debt of gratitude to the people of Drogheda and the surrounding area who have been more than generous over the years. It is only proper to acknowledge also the many people who gave up their time – and their sleep – to participate in the sleepout itself”.

The spokesperson acknowledged also the organisation’s management, staff and CE workers for all their hard work for DHA. Many of them will be working over the Christmas period in caring for the residents in the hostel at North Strand and in our transition houses in the region.

DHA has appealed to the public to support is efforts in whatever way they can by making donations directly to the bucket holders on the flag day, at the hostel  on the North Strand or by electronic transfer if desired.

“We have many generous supporters throughout the area and we thank them for that support”, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said that this was the time of year when DHA remembers its founder Sr Cait Fitzgerald. DHA was set up in 1982 to cater for the growing number of homeless people in the community and since then it has catered for thousands of people who found themselves without a home either through bereavement, health, economic or family reasons. Many people also recovered from homelessness and went on to settled and fulfilled lives.

“The Drogheda Homeless Aid board acknowledged the help it receives from Louth and Meath County Councils, the HSE and the Department of Social Protection.

“Please contact Drogheda Homeless Aid if you have an hour or two to shake a bucket for us on Saturday 7^th December.”

If you would like to make a donation towards the work of Drogheda Homeless Aid you can do so at https://dha.ie/donate/