Irish Charity Shows the Real Wonder of Christmas for Families in Poverty

Saint Vincent de Paul (SVP) is Ireland’s largest charity and receives around 200,000 calls for help every year. It is unique in that it supports those facing poverty through home visitations by its volunteers. To do this, SVP calls to homes within communities to understand the exact needs of families and individuals. For one family it may be food, for another rent. For others still it might be help with transport costs to get children to school.

These home visitations are transformative. SVP assistance is offered in a spirit of support and friendship by volunteers from all walks of life, and all visits are dealt with in a completely confidential and non-judgemental manner. 

The results can be very positive: SVP volunteers have described seeing people smile for the first time in months.  

Christmas is often the toughest time of year for many people facing poverty. One mother in a state of need said, “I would get very stressed and worried about it. It would start around November; just the stress of getting Christmas together and not really liking Christmas at all.”

In this year’s campaign, SVP wanted to show the transformative effect of these home visitations. And to show donors that those visitations wouldn’t be possible without their donations. 

During these home visits, a sadly familiar refrain is wondering where the next meal is coming from. They wonder if they can heat the house. They wonder how they will cope. They wonder if they will have a Christmas at all. 

Executive creative director of F&B Huskies Damian Hanley said, “we wanted to show that for the families facing poverty the real wonder of Christmas was wondering how they were going to manage.”

Rose McGowan, SVP national president, says that the advertising campaign created by F&B Huskies has accurately captured the essence of SVP work around visitations. "It portrays the impact that visits by our volunteers can have on families, particularly at this time of the year. F&B Huskies have also taken a very creative approach to The Wonder of Christmas.”

The campaign runs across Ireland online, on TV, on radio, OOH, press and cinema with the media placed by EssenceMediacom.