Pictures: Cork pupils deliver 110 bags of food to Penny Dinners ahead of busy Christmas period
Pupils from Blarney Street National School set off on a walk, carrying bags of food donations that they collected for Penny Dinners on Little Hanover Street, Cork.- Picture: David Creedon
Tears were shed outside Cork Penny Dinners on Wednesday morning as the charity’s volunteer co-ordinator hailed a “miracle on Little Hanover Street”.
Setting out at 11am, each one laden down with two bags of non-perishable groceries, some 50 students from Blarney Street School headed out down Winter’s Hill on their way to one of the city’s oldest charities.
It’s a tradition that dates back nine years now, and was started by teachers Mark Russell and Paul Kennedy, but these days the annual trek is mostly organised by the school’s student council.
“Today we’re going down to Cork Penny Dinners and donating bags of non-perishable food, cans of beans, chocolates, anything that won’t go off soon, we’ve 110 bags and every student from fifth and sixth class is going down, as well as 10 students from fourth class,” said student council member Lewis McCarthy as the group set off.
His fellow student council member Jack Meade said they had been assembling the bags over the past fortnight, and had tried to ensure that the fourth-class students got to carry lighter bags.
Crossing St Vincent’s Bridge, the group was at Penny Dinners within 15 minutes and were soon singing Christmas carols with great gusto.
Their arrival coincided with that of a busload of students from Midleton CBS, who delivered 150 shoeboxes each filled with personal hygiene products.
As the Cork Penny Dinners volunteers took a deserved break to listen to the carols, Caitríona Twomey, the charity’s volunteer co-ordinator, said the morning was one of her favourite parts of Christmas.
“This is the big miracle on Little Hanover Street, we have little miracles here every day, but this is the big miracle. It started with Blarney Street school and it’s a miracle that lifts us all and just keeps us going.
“These are the things that brings tears to your eyes,” Ms Twomey said, adding: “tears of joy.”
Cork Penny Dinners, which was founded in Victorian times, has recorded a sharp uptick in the need for its services of late, with the cost-of-living crisis driving demand as never before.
Regularly serving over 1,000 meals every day, the charity’s volunteers expect to serve in excess of 1,500 meals on Christmas Day.
Cork Penny Dinners will be serving takeaway meals on Little Hanover Street from 9am on Christmas morning, with sit-down meals served in the Croí na Laoí wellness centre on James Street.
App?
