March 8th is International Women’s Day, a day for calling for a more inclusive, gender-equal world. Many of our female clients have felt the brunt of this inequality and we wanted to spoil them for the day.
The Abigail Women’s Centre in Dublin, had a big celebration that continued throughout the weekend. Kitchen staff and residents baked a cake, scones and made sandwiches and wraps and we had an afternoon tea event. They collaborated with their neighbours, Tus Nua, in organising the day and their residents also baked cupcakes. There were fancy dress items and a specially made International Women’s Day Facebook frame and the residents and staff enjoyed posing for pictures. A volunteer with Tus Nua did hair styling and nails on the day so everyone was looking fab.
Some wonderful volunteers offered to do haircuts and shellac nails. They couldn’t manage Wednesday so they came out the following Sunday. They cut 20 residents hair and did their nails, the positive effect of this has carried through the following weeks as they have all been in fantastic form and feeling great about themselves.
A huge thank you to all the massively generous sponsors of the International Women’s Day events – Vintage China who gave us beautiful China for half price. Linda McGuirk, Janine McGrath and Laura Kai from Scissor Sisters, Angela Roche and Sinead Grehan from Laura Gene Nail Technicians and SunKiss Selftan for the beautiful goodie bags.
There were also lots of celebrations in McGarry House and the women there enjoyed a paper day and dinner in a local eatery. This is a real treat for our residents who rarely dine out.
NOVAS continues to develop new ways to support its female clients. Internationally there are more homeless women than men. The barriers and difficulties they face can be different to their male counterparts and it is important to develop services with their needs in mind
