Here’s a statistic that’s hard to swallow: almost two-thirds of adults facing homelessness in Ireland are going through it entirely alone, and the number of single adults in emergency accommodation has climbed from 4,497 to 7,288 in just five years. It certainly paints a grim picture. But for The Simon Community, it’s fuel, not discouragement, in their push to end single-adult homelessness by 2030.
It’s an ambitious goal, sure, but this is a charity that knows what it means to fight the odds. When it first launched in London back in 1963, local opposition was strong enough to force the charity to rethink its approach. Its Irish arm began even more humbly, with a handful of students running a soup kitchen before eventually opening their first Simon House. Fast forward to today, and it’s grown into one of the country’s largest networks of independent homelessness organisations. And that’s not all.
Since 2008, The Simon Community has hosted an annual Simon Week to raise awareness and rally support for the cause. And this year, Hog Roast Mallusk got to play a small part in that mission.
On 22nd September (the second day of Simon Week), our team attended a joint staff and customer event focused on raising awareness, sharing practical frameworks and, importantly, giving people with lived experience of homelessness a platform through panel discussions. Our job for the day was simple: keep all 60 attendees well fed, so they could stay focused on the conversations taking place around them.
We didn’t need asking twice. Hog Roast Mallusk’s catering crew spent the entire morning cooking up handmade beef burgers, Thai chicken
kebabs and slow-roasted pulled pork, alongside two tasty meat-free options served either plain or loaded with melted cheese and fried onions. Gourmet coleslaw, pasta salad and a mix of sweet potato and classic fries rounded things off, giving everyone a hearty, no-fuss meal to enjoy without missing a beat of the event.
Just as we’d hoped, the food went down a treat – but it did more than simply keep everyone fed. It helped create a relaxed setting for people to chat, connect and get the most out of what was an important day of discussion and awareness.
For Hog Roast Mallusk, being part of Simon Week was about much more than serving lunch. We were proud to support an event centred around listening, sharing experiences and working towards meaningful change, even in our small way, and we’d love to work with the charity again in future.