Galway Bay fm newsroom:
COPE Galway experienced a 20 per cent rise in the number of vulnerable people it supported last year - compared to 2018.
According to the organisation's annual report, which launched today, nearly 3-thousand people in Galway availed of its services in 2019.
COPE Galway is a local organisation which aims to improve the quality of life for older people, people who are affected by homelessness, and those who experience domestic abuse.
The number of people supported by the charity last year include 1,189 adults and 433 children affected by homelessness, 638 women and their children who were experiencing domestic abuse, and 724 older people who availed of social and nutritional supports.
In the 12 month period, COPE Galway produced and delivered over 60-thousand meals to older people in Galway, and worked up over 20,000 volunteering hours with more than 200 volunteers.
The 2019 report aims to shift the narrative around older people from frailty and sickness to their contribution to society and at this afternoon's launch, UN Special Rapporteur for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights, Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin spoke about the dangers of diminishing the autonomy and dignity of older people.
Professor Ní Aoláin says the work COPE Galway does with older people helps them stay in their own homes and live a fruitful life as an older person.
She continued to say they're the heartbeat of COPE - with 31 per cent of the volunteers aged over 65.
