Limerick homeless service Novas warns of bogus collectors going door to door

LIMERICK homeless service Novas has issued a number of warnings about unauthorised door to door collectors who say they are fundraising on behalf of the charity. 

In the past week, Novas has received two separate reports of groups going door to door, declaring that they are collecting money on behalf of the charity. 

However, these collections are unauthorised and the group has not had any contact with the charity. 

More reports of young girls collecting for Novas in the Raheen area of Limerick - please do not support them, they are NOT collecting for Novas @FintanYTWalsh @SeanLynchff @Cllrfrankiedaly @AnneCronin5 @Limerick_Leader @LimerickToday

— Novas (@novasireland) December 20, 2017

We have reports of people collecting for Novas in the Corbally area of Limerick - they are not permitted by us to collect. Please don't sponsor them @Jobrienjo @AnneCronin5 @iainburnsy1979

— Novas (@novasireland) December 15, 2017

“People are so generous at Christmas, you’d hate to think their money is not going where they think it's going,” Novas communications boss Una Burns told the Limerick Leader.  

“It's been over a week now and we haven’t gotten any donations of this nature. If people arrange a fundraiser in their office or something like that, they would let us know beforehand or the donation would usually be dropped in to us by now. You also need a permit to go door to door collecting like that.” 

”If you spot this group, report it immediately to the guards as after the event there’s very little they can do.”

The groups in question do not have any official Novas material with them, such as collection buckets or identification, she added. 

The charity also received a separate complaint from a women who advised that her baby had been woken up by one of these collectors “ferociously” knocking on her front window.

“We would never be encouraging or promoting aggressive fundraising. I would hate for anybody to be aggressively fundraising in our name.” 

It highlights the importance of communicating with the charity prior to organising a fundraiser, Ms Burns added.

“It's incredibly kind of people to want to fundraise but if they want to organise a public event, they need to inform the charity so they are aware of it.”