'Small miracle' on Christmas Day at Cork Penny Dinners 

A small miracle happened on Christmas Day, the head of one of Cork’s oldest charities has said.

From early morning, 30 or more volunteers from Cork Penny Dinners were hard at work in the James’s Street Croí na Laoí centre, preparing more than 1,200 Christmas dinners for people in need.

Caitríona Twomey, Penny Dinners volunteer co-ordinator, said the work had taken “a small miracle” but had all paid off.

“We were exhausted by teatime, but it was worth it just to see the smiles on people’s faces as they settled down to a meal in comfort, so we’re very happy."

Lord Mayor

At one point, the Lord Mayor of Cork, Green Party councillor Dan Boyle, donned a hairnet and gloves to help serve up dinners, and later he sang ‘Those Were the Days’, and hardy perennial ‘Imagine’.

“It’s one of the privileges I get as Lord Mayor to visit places in Cork where important work is done on Christmas Day, and it’s a particular pleasure to visit Penny Dinners to mark not only today, but the excellent work done by volunteers throughout the year,” Mr Boyle told The Echo.

Community gardaí Kay Griffin, Laura O’Connor, Damien Desmond and Gheorghe Rosu called in between delivering food hampers and checking in on people around the city.

Important day

Garda Laura O’Connor said it was an important day for Cork’s community gardaí.

“We’ve been to a lot of houses already and met with a lot of families, and with elderly people, and we’ve made a lot of food deliveries, and made sure that some people just had someone to say hello to them on Christmas Day."

Volunteers from the Irish United Nations Veterans Association (IUNVA) helped to lay tables and worked alongside Penny Dinners volunteers, sharing quiet and warm conversations with the people to whom they served meals.

“This is such an important day in Penny Dinners, and we couldn’t do it without our friends in the gardaí, IUNVA, the River Lee Hotel, Il Padrino, Exec Cars, and all our volunteers,” Ms Twomey said.

She also thanked The Echo for its €2,000 sponsorship of the charity.