SVP will provide 420 food vouchers this Christmas

Thomas Lyons

The number and range of people seeking support from local charities is on the increase as the cost of living continues to rise. The choice of food or heat or rent is one faced by many Westmeath families.

The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SVP) Mullingar will hand out food vouchers to more than 420 families over the Christmas period. The food vouchers supplied by SVP can be used in local shops and are a means of assisting those hardest hit by the dramatic rise in the cost of living.

Data from the CSO’s Survey in Income and Living Conditions indicates that up to 140,000 people in employment across Ireland are living in poverty. Minimum living costs have increased by 5.8% for a working-age single adult.

Rising rents contributed two thirds of the change, increasing by almost €20 per week (9.3%). Increases in food, home energy and insurance costs together account for a further fifth of the growth in the cost of living.

SVP Mullingar Branch president Martin Shaw says this data is reflected in the requests for support: “We’ve provided hampers for 420 families and we’re not finished yet,” he said this week. “Everybody is aware of how prices are going up and it’s putting more people under pressure.”

Those requests for help from SVP are up this year: “I’d say there is an increase of about 20% up on last year. There’s a lot of people getting caught with fuel poverty, the rise in electricity and the cost of oil and the coal is a huge burden for families.”

There has been an increase in middle-income people looking for help and this is a reflection of the range of bills that need to be covered. Martin says the demand for support is on the rise: “We get people with rent arrears, but we don’t help much with rent because our main goal is food and fuel and heat.

“It’s mostly families with children, but we covers every strata of society. When people lose their job, there’s a gap between when they can get social welfare. They have no money for five to six weeks. Then there are old people living on their own who just don’t have enough.”

When the festive season squeezes budgets, SVP try to help: “More people coming to us who are above the threshold for income support because they’re working in jobs that give them a basic wage, but they’re not getting much extra. When something goes wrong, like a child sick or they need new shoes, they have to come to us.”

Martin says the scale of the problem is shocking: “One volunteer who joined De Paul this week was given 12 bags of food and a list. When he came back to me and he said, “I did not realise there was that much deprivation in Mullingar”, this is what we are dealing with.”

‘Huge need for food and fuel’ say Mullingar Lions Club

Mullingar Lions Club are experiencing their busiest Christmas Appeal to date in 2025. The need for support in the area of food, fuel and household items is overwhelming due to the high cost of living and many families have to go without basic supplies in their day to day living, said a spokesperson for the organisation.

Mullingar Lions Club work closely with St Vincent de Paul, sharing resources to ensure people and families most in need are taken care of. They also reach out with vouchers and food parcels to the many groups of people that they help through their family support project throughout the year.

The Mullingar Lions Club main project for the last three years is “to provide respite and support for families of children with Additional Needs and Autism” so extra resources are provided to those families to allow them have an enjoyable Christmas time.

Frank Dillon of the Lions Club expressed a special word of thanks to all who supported the Christmas Appeal Collection 2025, to the schools, companies and clubs who organised fundraising activities. Their generosity and goodwill have made a huge difference in ensuring help is provided. Frank said: “It is heartening to see so many people go outside their comfort zone to reach out to people in need.”

As we go to press, Mullingar Lions Club, in tandem with David Smyth Catering, are finalising details for their Christmas Dinner Project which will deliver approximately 350 dinners on Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day throughout Westmeath.

Frank explained that the project is the initiative of David Smyth Catering and staff who work so diligently to have the food prepared and ready for the 20 drivers who head off in different directions on Christmas morning. He expressed a heartfelt thank-you and appreciation to David, Amy, Emma and staff and all the drivers doing this unique and exceptional work now for the last 10 years.

Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas and peaceful new year. Míle Buíochas le gach duine.