The Galway Advertiser Christmas Appeal 2018 has this year chosen as its beneficiary Modh Eile, the new domestic refuge facility to be opened next year by COPE Galway on the site of the former Magdalene Laundry at Forster Street.
The cost of the refurbishment is estimated at €4 million, and three quarters of this is already in place. It is up to the people of Galway to help raise the balance of one million euro.
For the families who will arrive there, often in the dark of night with tear stained faces, these walls will represent a new beginning.
‘Let them be bright and welcoming, not dark and foreboding. Let them shed their former purpose and care for those in distress’

Declan Varley, Group Editor, Advertiser Group

The new, enhanced facility is urgently needed by the women and children of Galway as the Waterside House building used currently for COPE Galway’s Domestic Abuse Service has been unfit for purpose for many years now. In particular, there is not enough space for all who present for safe refuge – the local organisation was unable to accommodate 258 women and their 441 children who sought refuge there in 2017.

In 2017 COPE Galway Domestic Violence Services worked with 339 individual women and 214 individual children. It provided 615 outreach appointments to 210 individual women; provided 189 women with 225 court accompaniments and offered 212 play therapy sessions. We were unable to accommodate 258 women with their 441 children on 326 occasions due to lack of space.

We hope that our gesture to select Modh Eile as our beneficiary this year will inspire many of you to donate to this worthy cause.