On the 28th of October, I will be taking part in the Dublin Marathon (My First) in aid of the St Johns House in Chapelizod, Dublin.

St Johns House is part of the St James Camino Network which is a charity dedicated to the rehabilitation, education and support for homeless and drug addicted men.

Goals for St Johns House;

In the short term our goal is to fix up our premises to a higher more comfortable standard. At present we require a heating system, new windows and doors, insulation and a new kitchen.

Our medium-term goals are to acquire several more premises where service users can move onto after a six month stay with us in Chapelizod. In our experience the participants that we are able to keep for longer periods of time are more successful in their recovery.

In the long term it is our goal to extend the premise in Chapelizod; this would include a group room to allow us to hold groups, workshops and other activities. We would also like to have an office and staff bedroom.

Our biggest challenge at the moment is lack of funding; we currently fund the house from the rent we receive from the service users. This money is used up through the day to day running of the centre. The house was donated to us 8 years ago with the condition that we pay off an outstanding electricity bill of €14,000. We are still paying this off and hope to have it cleared in the next few months.