Huge demand for Christmas food vouchers with thousands gone in hours, charity says
Vivienne Clarke
The Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin has moved to reassure people seeking help after it quickly ran out of Christmas food parcel tickets and weekly food bags.
There was anger and distress among people queuing for food parcel tickets on Wednesday morning when stewards announced shortly after 9.30am that all 3,000 had been distributed.
About 30 minutes earlier the centre had also run out of its weekly food bags – two hours earlier than usual.
Alan Bailey from the centre acknowledged that “20 or 30 people went away empty handed” on Wednesday but tried to reassure them that they wouldn't go hungry for Christmas.
“We're here to help and we will. We will ensure that they don't go hungry, that we have food to supply them and we will supply them,” he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
Mr Bailey said they had not been surprised to see the increase in numbers seeking assistance.
“The demand for our services has been increasing over the last number of years. We're now providing over 700 dinners every day. So we weren't surprised that there was an increase in numbers.
“But this was the sheer volume of people that turned up at the same time and the amount of people that were there and that the tickets went so quickly.
“What we’re providing will go a long way to providing a Christmas dinner and making sure that people have groceries over the Christmas period.”
Along with the 700 dinners provided every day the centre also provides 350 breakfasts and demand has increased by almost 300 meals per day over the “last year or two”, he added.
Running costs for the service were €4.8 million last year, 15 per cent of which comes from the Government with the remainder coming from donations, Mr Bailey said.
“We're totally dependent on people's generosity.”
“When we started 62 years ago we never thought we'd see demand grow to what it is people. And we've grown to meet that demand.”
Every Wednesday morning throughout the year the Capuchin Centre distributes 1,450 food parcels, which has grown in demand from 700 a few years ago.
