PRESS RELEASE: Helping Irish Hosts – Newbridge Roadshow Wednesday March 22nd, Keadeen Hotel Newbridge
Helping Irish Hosts Information Roadshow rolls into Newbridge on 22 March 2023
Over 73,000 displaced Ukrainians have arrived in Ireland since the war started in February 2022. In the midst of a wider housing crisis, the state has run out of emergency accommodation for new arrivals.
LOCAL INFO – Helping Irish Hosts are appealing to local people in Kildare to come forward to offer accommodation. If it’s something you’ve been thinking about, please get in touch and HIH will talk you through the process of hosting.
We invite current hosts, and anyone interested in hosting to join us for an evening of celebration and information on what it’s like to host a Ukrainian family and how to go about it.
The first of a series of nationwide events will take place at:
The Keadeen Hotel in Newbridge on Wednesday 22 March at 7pm in collaboration with County Kildare LEADER Partnership.
The evening will be hosted by radio presenter Keith Walsh, who will be joined by local host families and Ukrainian guests, Angie Gough from Helping Irish Hosts, and expert partners from The Irish Refugee Council, Nasc, Doras, The Open Community and the Irish Red Cross.
Maynooth local and Helping Irish Hosts Co-Founder Jill Robinson says, “Helping Irish Hosts arose in direct response to the Ukraine crisis, to empower and support individuals and communities in Ireland to host Ukrainians in their homes, safely and sustainably. We are here to help set hosts up with all the tools you need to host in your home. All are welcome to this event; if you are currently hosting, please come along to share your experience.”
Register for this free event on Eventbrite: LINK HERE Or just show up! All welcome
The Helping Irish Hosts roadshow is funded by The One Foundation and The Sunflower Foundation, in partnership with The Community Foundation and private donations. This event is funded by County Kildare LEADER Partnership, through funding from the SICAP Programme. Administered by Pobal, the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) is co-funded by the Irish Government, through the Department of Rural and Community Development, and the European Social Fund Plus under the Employment, Inclusion, Skills and Training (EIST) Programme 2021 -2027.
ENDS
About Helping Irish Hosts
Helping Irish Hosts (HIH) is a limited company formed by a group of hosts, working together with displaced and Irish based Ukrainians, to get people into Irish homes – quickly – to give them a soft landing, while avoiding Direct Provision and long term hotel / government accommodation stays.
We arose in direct response to the humanitarian crisis arising from the war in Ukraine, to empower and support individuals and communities in Ireland to host Ukrainians in their homes, safely and sustainably. We’ve done an excellent job so far, with hundreds of Ukrainians in more than 260 homes, a vibrant, trusted support network for hosts and presenting a strong voice in advocacy for hosts at all levels. Since the end of August we have been working with the Irish Red Cross to match Ukrainians with hosts in emergency accommodation settings. We are hosts helping hosts and we are widely regarded as the experts in the sector.
It takes years of expertise to develop a safe, rewarding hosting programme. We’ve only had 6 months! We are working in close partnership and collaboration with The Irish Refugee Council, Doras, Nasc and The Open Community, organisations who have led the way in refugee resettlement and what’s called the “Community Sponsorship” model in Ireland for over 30 years. We are part of the Irish Ukraine NGO & Civil Society Response Group and we are deeply engaged with the Ukrainian community in Ireland. We are funded by The One Foundation, The Sunflower Foundation, The Community Foundation and the generous individual donors via our gofundme. We are supported by a wide variety of corporate and state partners. We are registered as a CLG (717469, April 13, 2022) and are in the process of applying to become a registered charity.
Our hosts are motivated by a desire to help people fleeing Ukraine and this is our focus. Our belief is that this response has the potential to transform Ireland’s ongoing refugee response, to finally move away from Direct Provision towards a system Ireland can be proud of.
We are hosts, helping hosts. Together, we are playing our part in this historic, unprecedented, global emergency humanitarian response. We believe that this is the best way forward.
CONTACT
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