THE Kerry Women’s Refuge and Support Service began a new chapter in their history when they officially opened their first Adapt Charity Shop on Friday.
The shop is located on Matt Talbot Street next to Gleasure’s Funeral Home and was officially opened by Elaine Kinsella of Radio Kerry.
All funds from the venture will go into maintaining the Adapt Women’s Refuge in Killeen which has served families in crisis for 20 years.
On average it costs €3,000 to keep a family in refuge between one and two months.
“We need resources now more than ever,” said Anne Marie Foley General Manager of Adapt. “The reality of the situation is women are staying longer in refuge because of the housing crisis,” she added.
The refuge has six units of accommodation, meaning only six families can be housed at any one time. Last year 178 families across the county sought help from Adapt.
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“Spaces are at a premium because of the housing crisis. We refused accommodation on over 200 occasions last year because of it”
In the first quarter of this year Adapt had 50 requests for spaces and could only grant ten of them “At the moment only one out of five women are lucky enough to get a space” said Anne Marie.
“There just isn’t rented property out there at the moment. Women in the refuge last week were looking in the papers for rented accommodation and there was only one new property in the paper,” she said.
“We’re hoping that the revenue from the shop will provide us the ability to put services in place that families need we can’t get state funding for. Particularly services for children, that’s going to be very important going forward and particularly for women in the community.”
“Families are crying out for support themselves and for their children, so that’s what we want the revenue from this shop to do for us,” said Anne Marie.
One of the big advantages of the location is the ample parking spaces out in front of the store, making it easy for bargain hunters to pull up and have a look around the spacious unit.
You can contact Adapt on 066 712 9100. More information can be found on the Kerry Woman’s Refuge and Support Center website
