A magnificent Christmas gesture by an interior design company has made all the difference in making the Drogheda Homeless Aid hostel more comfortable for its residents. The 27-bed hostel at North Strand Drogheda, along with six transitional houses, provides 24/7 all- year-round services for homeless people in Counties Louth and Meath and although it is fully functional and maintained to the highest standards by its staff and CE workers, it was badly in need of refurbishment.
Into the breach stepped the Co Louth-based Hamilton Interior Design company which offered to donate a complete makeover of the building. The residents themselves went to work painting individual rooms in the building and the Hamilton design team then went to work using their skills as topline designers to provide furniture, soft furnishings, curtains and bed linen from the top of the building to the ground floor. And the company has promised to monitor future needs at the hostel as required.
Hamilton Interiors team members of the Drogheda Homeless Aid
Family members of the Hamilton company visited the hostel just before Christmas to receive the thanks of all associated with Homeless Aid including residents, staff and board members. Homeless Aid chairperson Paul Murphy, speaking on behalf of the board, said that everyone at the hostel welcomed the wonderful gesture from the Hamilton company. All of the services of the company, along with the furnishings, had been provided free of charge. “That is an astounding commitment from Hamilton’s and one very much appreciated by all at North Strand. This local company (from Tinure, Dunleer) has done outstanding work for us. We were delighted to host members of the family for a visit to the hostel where they were introduced all around by our Operations Manager Mandie Walsh”.
Explainer:
Drogheda Homeless Aid was founded by Sr Cait Fitzgerald, a member of the Daughters of Charity Order. Although from Co Cork, she has connections to both Louth and Meath having worked in Drogheda as a social worker and pioneer of services for the homeless, and also worked as a poultry instructor at St Martha’s College in Navan. She started the service for a small number of homeless men in a cottage at Beltichbourne near Drogheda. In the late 1990s Sr Cait saw the need for a hostel where homeless persons would find shelter and home comforts until they could move on to housing where they could live independently. The new hostel was officially opened in September 2000 by the Mayor of Drogheda Alderman Frank Godfrey and then Government Minister Dermot Ahern and the attendance included Sr Cait, then Cllrs Sean Collins and Maria O’Brien Campbell, Dha Manager Karen Smith, Fr Paddy Rushe, Rev Michael Graham and board members of Dha. The service in Drogheda is supported by Louth County Council, Meath County Council, the Hse, and by members of the community in both Louth and Meath.
