In the Name of St Patrick

Charities are providing critical support to help communities, and vulnerable people across society, cope but they are staring into a funding chasm. 

Extract from a letter published in WeekendFT yesterday from a slew of charity bosses.

You will be surprised, probably relieved, to know the Benevolent Society of St Patrick isn’t staring into a funding chasm. It may happen, but for now there’s money in the bank, so I’m not soliciting like Lady Jane.

The family took it much to heart
When Lady Jane became a tart;
But blood is blood and race is race
And so, to save the family’s face,
They bought her an exclusive beat
On the shady side of Jermyn Street.

For newish readers, the BSoSP assists needy people of Irish descent living in London. The Society has been at it since 1783 so you’d imagine that we’d have got the hang of it by now and more or less we have. The London Irish Centre in Camden administer our grants in Camden and beyond. They do an extraordinarily good job ensuring that our finite funds reach the needy, not the greedy.

I’d like to give you a flavour of some Grants made last year.

That was two weeks in June – good title for a French film. Note, all these clients are younger than me and a small amount of money can make a big difference to the applicant’s quality of life. We are hugely appreciative of the compassion and professionalism of LIC’s Assessors but we have been aware that our funding tended to reach the needy north of the Thames. Anything to do with charities seems to take forever so it is fortuitous that we are now making Grants south of the river. This has come about with encouragement from Southwark Council and we are channelling funds to the Southwark Irish Pensioners. There’s a cheque in the hall waiting to be posted on my daily exercise.