John Darley, Chair of Trustees, and Mark McGreevy, President of the Depaul Assembly, reflect on the Depaul Group’s achievements over the past year and a half. The statement below is taken from our latest Impact Report for 2021 – 2022.
As we prepare the Impact Report for 2021, the war in Ukraine is in its fourth month. The brutal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 had an immediate impact on the Depaul Group. Depaul has worked in Ukraine since 2007, with shelters for homeless people in Kharkiv, Odesa and Kyiv. At the outbreak of the war, these projects were quickly transformed to become distribution centres for humanitarian aid, with many homeless people supporting the distribution of food and medical supplies. The rapid response from our supporters was overwhelming, with more than £2 million raised in the first month. The continued generous donations from our funders, coupled with mobilisation of support from across the Depaul subsidiaries and wider humanitarian aid channelled through Depaul, enables us to continue our urgent front-line humanitarian work for those most in need.
Depaul International (DPI) is the parent organisation of a global family of charities working with homeless and marginalised people, currently providing services in Croatia, France, Ireland, Slovakia, Ukraine, UK, and the USA. The Depaul Group also works in strategic partnership with two key international organisations: the Famvin Homeless Alliance (FHA) and the Ruff Institute of Global Homelessness (IGH).
Our work during 2021 was again overshadowed by the Covid-19 pandemic, and Depaul subsidiaries continued to adapt and innovate to provide care and support for homeless people threatened by the disease. Despite the restrictions, during the past year over 21,500 people received direct support from Depaul, while the FHA “13 Houses Campaign” marked real progress in its goal to house 10,000 people by 2023 (currently approaching 8,000). IGH continued to work with the UN to bring the issue of homelessness as a focus of international development, while maintaining drive on the Vanguard Cities programme to tackle homelessness in key metropolitan areas.
The short to medium term challenges for the Depaul Group are clear: to sustain the humanitarian work in Ukraine for as long as necessary, while simultaneously maintaining and improving support for people who are homeless across the world. In these tasks, we have huge appreciation for the tremendous work of our staff, volunteers and supporters, and we especially welcome the leadership of Matthew Carter as the new Group CEO for Depaul International. As ever, we are indebted to the generous contributions of our funders, and the welcome collaboration and support from government agencies and partners across the globe.
John Darley
Chair of Trustees
Mark McGreevy OBE
President of the
Depaul Assembly
You can read the Depaul International’s Impact Report for 2021 – 2022 in full.
Depaul International has also published an Outcomes 2021 – 2022 document, showing how many people have benefited from our services in 2021.
