Simon Community

The Simon Community is a charity which helps homeless people, taking its name from Simon of Cyrene. It was founded in 1963 by Anton Wallich-Clifford who had encountered many homeless people while working for the Probation Service at Bow Street Magistrates Court. Wallich-Clifford was influenced by the work of Dorothy Day and her Catholic Worker Movement in the USA and his original vision was to establish a farm and community in Sussex but local protests prevented this and the organisation developed as a chain of houses and night shelters run by local volunteers. A trust was established to manage the affairs of the charity but its administration was weak. Attempts were made to transform the organisation into a decentralised federation of homelessness bodies — the Cyrenian Federation and Homes for Homeless People but these were only successful in Ireland where Simon communities were established in Cork, Dublin, Dundalk and Galway. These organizations fund themselves by hosting a number of charity initiatives and events such as the Dublin Fun Run. In 2009, Dublin Simon celebrated its 40th anniversary. Anton Wallich-Clifford died in 1978 but the original community continues where it is based and active in London.

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Wikipedia