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Tired but dedicated volunteers at a soup kitchen in Cork City were on the road until 4 a.m. on Christmas Day delivering the last 10,000 Christmas baskets that will help those in need get through the Christmas season.
Hundreds more received their Christmas dinner courtesy of Penny Dinners and the River Lee Hotel.
Caitriona Twomey, the powerhouse behind the charity, was visibly moved by detailing the despair and suffering she has seen this year.
Sadly, Covid-19 forced the cancellation of its traditional Christmas dinner for the homeless.
However, Ms. Twomey was not defeated with the “Little Miracle on Hanover Street” still going on this morning, as volunteers from as far away as Romania, Lithuania and France delivered meals to thousands of people in the city and the county.
Caitriona said her phone has been ringing non-stop as people in difficult situations continue to contact her to offer her Christmas dinner.
“Last night was a difficult night. We keep getting calls. We are sad that we cannot have people inside, but we are doing the best we can. We are coming to the end of a really difficult year for people. It has taken its toll.
“We have to go through the city and the county to the people who cannot get there because there is no public transportation.
“We were on the road until 4 am with the baskets. Going to doors so late at night is unusual for us. Whatever happens during 2020, we don’t want it to happen in 2021.
“You have to take care of people. They call us saying ‘Will you definitely come with dinner?’ You can feel the underlying worry.
“We had a famine years ago when it was inevitable. We don’t have one now due to the generosity of the people. The goodness on one side is much greater than the sadness on the other. “
Moving this year they received food from restaurants and stores that will never reopen because the impact of Covid and restrictions have made their position untenable.
Devastation
Twomey says that even before 2021 starts, they can see the devastation that is going to be wreaked on society.
“We will prepare for that. We have people who never thought they would have to use us. We have made about 10,000 baskets. We have had a high volume of calls. We will distribute several thousand dinners.
“That is only possible thanks to the kindness of the people. People need us. If they didn’t, we wouldn’t be here. “
Twomey has called on the government to go the extra mile with the homeless and needy in 2021.
He got emotional talking about the countless users of the service who lost in 2020.
“We put up our Christmas tree and it’s called Sarah’s Gift of Hope Tree. Above we have trinkets with photographs of people who are no longer with us. This year we add a lot. That was very sad for us.
“Singing Silent Night is a bit traditional when we light the tree.
“Everyone felt very sad because last year we could have put two or three trinkets from people who died, but this year there were so many people. We have people up there who lost their lives by suicide. Two weeks ago we lost seven [service users] in a week in Cork.
“Today we are having a kind of Miracle on Hanover Street because we are open and we have food from the River Lee Hotel. All we can do is do our best. “
The Christmas dinner was delivered to shelters, shelters, poor sleepers, families and individuals living alone throughout the county.
Caitriona and volunteers also set up a table on Little Hanover Street where service users would come and take away food and clothing donated by the public.
Santa, also known as PJ O’Neill, who kept the festive cheer on the street, has donned the red suit annually for the past three years.
A regular volunteer, he said he surprised himself by coming to peel potatoes twice a week. He admits he gets more satisfaction than he does by describing it as a “brutal” year for service.
Initially, Penny Dinners hoped to celebrate Christmas in a nearby underground car park. However, this had to be canceled for public health reasons.
Twomey, whose service got a boost when a masked Roy Keane showed up earlier this month, says homeless people need joy and hope every day, not just on Christmas Day.
She is asking the public to donate tents and sleeping bags to Penny Dinners in the coming weeks.
Caitriona admits to being heartbroken to see the apparent decline of the homeless community since the pandemic changed the way we live our lives.
“With the blockade, people have to walk through an empty city all day and fall asleep in the freezing cold as well. We have to stay positive and things move forward because if [service users] they see us worried or fearful they become worried and fearful. We can see if people are not doing well.
“You would almost know by looking at them who is about to die. It’s more visible now because when we had people inside, you were hanging around the place and busy, whereas now you only see them at the door.
“You are seeing things in a different light. You can see the deterioration. People who have always maintained an optimistic attitude and have accepted their luck that it is completely gone.
“People often don’t see the point of living. There is a lot of despair. “
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