A quarter of a century supporting women and children in the local community
Twenty five years ago on January 5th last, Drogheda Women’s and Children’s Refuge embarked on its journey to support women and children in Drogheda.
Although their track record spans back twenty-five years, their focus has broadened greatly.
“Our aim now is to empower women and children experiencing domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and homelessness by providing support, a range of services and sate emergency accommodation.” explains Susan Keogh, General Manager of the Refuge
“Our journey began in 1996, when a need for a local response to domestic violence was identified. At the time there was only one three-bedroom house in Navan available in the North Eastern area to accommodate families experiencing domestic violence. With the help of local people and the Augustinians, the Refuge finally opened its doors to those in need in early 1998.
“Fast forward to today and our services have grown monumentally. We recognised very early on that a larger space was needed to facilitate our clients. Thanks to the people of Drogheda and their fundraising efforts, we were able to buy a small piece of land where our current premises in Priest Lane now stands.
“We did not build the refuge, the people of Drogheda did” recalls Theresa Wood, one of the founding members of DWCR.
DWCR operates a 24-hour helpline 365 days a year and in addition, also operates a charity boutique in the town called Butterfly named after their logo which depicts a delicate butterfly coming out of a storm.
The Refuge are keen to emphasise that short term accommodation is only an emergency solution to safety, and that the services they offer they go far beyond this
The following supports are also provided
- An onsite registered childcare facility, and a 1:1 drop in facility for parents in the refuge
- An outreach service, providing DV supports and information to women in the community
- A community education and awareness raising programme
- Court support & accompaniments
- Transitional housing
- Therapeutic supports and programmes for women and children
“We know that our work is important, the need for our services is greater than ever, therefore we need to expand our services to meet the current demand”, Susan continued.
In the year of opening, 55 families were accommodated with an average stay of 10 days. In 2022, 915 helpline calls were answered, 441 of which were first time callers. The refuge hosted 196 residents with an average stay of 33 days, however they were unable to accommodate 78% of requests representing 369 families due to resource constraints.
“We need to increase our support, prevention and awareness raising work in the area. We require additional auxiliary spaces and resources to be able to offer more supports to women and children in need.
“We are proud of the amazing support from our local community. We would like to thank you all for what we have achieved in the first 25 years and humbly ask you to come with us for the next 25.”
