When Joe Hyland's teenage son was viciously attacked on the streets of Belfast it inspired him to set up SOS NI.
On a Friday and Saturday night, from 10pm to 3am, the charity and its volunteers bring their bright yellow SOS Bus close to pubs and nightclubs, and hand out hot drinks, pancakes, welfare services and acute medical care to people who have been partying in the city or are just passing by.
Hyland (61), a "Lancashire lad" who has lived in Belfast for 40 years, told The Irish Times that since November 2007 the charity he runs and its 250 volunteers have interacted with more than 310,000 people and more than 9,500 people, who are "physically or emotionally hurting", have been on board for treatment or a listening ear.
He says it’s not glamorous work – there are lots of intoxicated people to contend with and vomit to clear up – but SOS Bus volunteers are there “unconditionally to help vulnerable people in their time of need”.
Serious head injury
In 2007, Hyland’s son, then 14, was badly beaten up by a group of youths and suffered a serious head injury. “He just happened to be walking past them and sadly they tore into him,” Hyland said. “He still has a scar on his skull from where they cracked it.”
Hyland was angry but knew he couldn’t blame the police or the council so decided to do something positive. “All it takes for evil to proliferate is for good men to do nothing and I thought that is me,” he said.
“You know, nice house, hot tub in the back garden, all the trimmings of a business, and actually I lived in a bubble. That is what started it.”
He began volunteering outside a church, close to two pubs in Belfast, and built up relationships with local police officers. The SOS Bus has been operating near pubs at major events since.
It employ medics and paramedics to assess people, who are then taken to hospital or transported home or to a safe place via minibus.
The charity encourages people to put its emergency number (07901-505505) into their mobile phones and it is always on the look out for volunteers and help from local businesses, such as those providing the tea, coffee, soup and baked goods that it serves up. “All donations are welcome,” Hyland says.
Just a few weeks ago the SOS team prevented a vulnerable young woman from being raped and they have been told that the assistance they provide has directly “helped to save over 30 lives”.
Everyone welcome
According to the SOS NI website the charity is based on "Christian belief that respects and embraces diversity", so volunteers and users from all backgrounds and all faiths, or none, are welcome.
“The ethos of the organisation is what I am most proud of,” Joe says. “The volunteers are wonderful. I am not that impressed with my buses. They cost a lot of money but they are only buses.
“The volunteers are out from 10 or 11 o’clock at night until 3 or 4 in the morning. They put themselves at risk out there.”
The award-winning work of the SOS Bus team doesn’t stop there. They operate school education and empowerment programmes and also help distribute meals to people struggling with the basics across Belfast.
Three years ago they started collecting food from Marks and Spencer in the early hours of the morning to deliver to 56 charities the following day.
“M&S has given us over 12,000 trays of food,” the charity chief executive said. “We collect it every night – it’s all food waste of course – and then we move it to the charities the next day.”
Joe says charities are “getting hurt in these difficult financial times” and the need among some families in Belfast is eye-opening. “It can be really heartbreaking,” he said.
The team distributed £400,000 [€466,000] of food last year and this year “we truly believe we will do over £1 million of food,” he added.