A Kingscourt woman is planning to enlist local tradespeople to help tackle the homeless crisis in Dublin City. Sonya McMahon was donated a double-decker bus and is hoping members of the local community will help her convert it into sleeping pods, sleeping either eight men or women at any time. She is hopeful that Dublin County Council will allocate a piece of land to turn into a community area and park the bus to supply shelter for the most vulnerable in society. Speaking to Northern Sound, Sonya revealed that the 'Help Our Homeless' community group currently feeds on average 800 people a week at the GPO in Dublin City Centre.
Sonya said that it's important to let those who are most vulnerable know that "somebody cares." Sonya continued; "We just want to make sure that these people are safe, we provide a hot dinner, drinks, snacks or a sandwich and just make sure that they're ok. It's important to just let them know that we are thinking of them and to let them know that someone cares. At the end of the day the way I look at it, that person in need is someone's daughter, son, mother or father. That's why we do it, and once you start it's very hard to stop."
The local woman said for anyone who would like to get in touch, you can do so by contacting Sonya via Facebook on the 'Help Our Homeless' community Facebook page. Sonya said that anyone across Cavan and Monaghan can come and help, you can also contact Sonya via telephone on 086 307 4956 or alternatively via email at - [email protected]. Sonya added that it's important to get as many people as possible on board and to raise much needed awareness around homelessness.
