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28 October 2010

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FOCUS IRELAND FUND DRIVE | ‘KEY TO A HOME COLLECTIONS’, NOVEMBER 19th TO 21st

Fair City’s homeless Bob joins street appeal

BY LUCINDA McNALLY
Communications Officer, Focus Ireland

Bryan Murray as homeless Bob in Fair City

TV STAR Bryan Murray’s character, ‘Bob’, was homeless in RTÉ’s Fair City. Now the actor is taking the issue from the screen to the street as he calls on people to volunteer for Focus Ireland’s ‘Key to a Home Collections’ on November 19th to 21st.
Bryan joined Fair City cast members Yare Jegbefume, Dave Duffy and Clelia Murphy to encourage people to sign up to volunteer to raise €65,000 in vital funds by simply selling Focus Ireland key rings in their local area to fund the charity’s work to support more people to get a ‘Key to a Home’.
Focus Ireland teamed up with Fair City as the storyline in the TV soap has recently shown how easy it can be for people to become homeless if they run in to serious difficulties and don’t have access to support to help them avoid losing their home.
Fair City’s recent episodes show how Bryan’s character became homeless after facing a spiral of difficulties, ending with him losing his job as barman in McCoy’s pub and then losing his home.
The producers of the popular TV show got in touch with Focus Ireland before proceeding with the homeless storyline to get a good understanding about homelessness.  They have also worked with Focus Ireland in the past when dealing with the issue of homelessness in other storylines in previous years.
Bryan said:
“We did a lot of research into the reality of daily life for people who are homeless and it was a real insight talking to Focus Ireland about these issues.
“My character, ‘Bob’, was a victim of the recession, having lost his business, his money, then his job as a barman and eventually even his home. Focus Ireland was able to tell us about some of the challenges and difficulties people in this position face.
“In hard times we all need to do our bit to help and that’s why I would urge everyone to donate even just a couple of hours over the weekend of November 19th to 21st to go out onto the streets for the ‘Key to a Home Collections’.”
Volunteers can get involved by visiting www.facebook.com/focusirelandcharity.
Last month, the housing and homeless charity launched its Facebook campaign to help increase understanding about homelessness across the country.
Focus Ireland’s Facebook page quickly became inundated with discussions about homelessness and now has over 10,000 fans and made the finals for the Best Facebook Page at the Irish Web Awards.

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