Depaul Ireland CEO receives MBE
Depaul Ireland CEO, Kerry Anthony, 35, has collected her MBE at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace. Ms. Anthony received the honour for her service to social housing, in the field of homelessness.
Ms. Anthony’s dedication to social justice and her commitment to helping the most marginalised in society, has seen her not only become of the youngest leaders in the voluntary and charity sector in Ireland, but one of the youngest recipients of the MBE in the awards list.
Speaking after the ceremony, Ms. Anthony stated, “An award like this can never be about just one person, I am very happy to be receiving this award but believe that this is a reflection of the work of everyone in Depaul Ireland. We would only have been noticed because of what people do every day in all our services to support the most marginalised within our society. I have enjoyed all aspects of my work with homeless people over the years and to see the sector being recognised in this way is superb.”
Kerry has led Depaul Ireland since 2006, a period which has seen the charity grow significantly to become one of the major providers of homeless services in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Under the young leader’s stewardship, the charity has become a major influence and sector leader, in advocating for the rights of the most marginalised within the homeless community.
The charity has pioneered a number of projects for vulnerable people who require low threshold services to meet their needs. The success of this has been demonstrated through the services that have grown each year - services that were the first of their kind, working with many people who had previously been turned away elsewhere.
As a young CEO, Ms. Anthony has brought a fresh approach to raising awareness about the nature of homelessness, resulting in an annual exhibition at Electric Picnic arts and music festival.
“Depaul Ireland is a young and vibrant organisation and we seek to promote our work in a way that reflects this. Our partnership with Electric Picnic is key in affording us the opportunity to do this. This year will be our third time with a presence at the festival through our exhibition ‘life’s no picnic on the streets’. This is an opportunity to break negative stereotypes that exist with regards to homeless people by showcasing some of their many talents.
“Depaul Ireland works with some of the most vulnerable in the homeless community and our services users, who have histories of being street homeless with acute substance misuse issues, have become enthusiastically involved in the preparations for electric picnic this year. In one of our projects for street drinkers, as a direct result of preparing for EP, we now have two art sessions every week. This is well attended and we believe is a strong therapeutic intervention with people who for many years may have been overlooked by others, never mind being recognised as people with talent. The lads are already incredibly excited about EP this year and have their art work underway.
