Extra helpers handle record calls for charity

An army of volunteers has mobilised to help the St Vincent de Paul respond to record calls for help.

The charity, which took over one floor of Heineken Ireland’s headquarters in Cork for its Christmas food and toy hamper packing operation last year, has had to take over two floors of the brewing giant’s office block this year to cope with the increased demand.

“The figures simply don’t matter at the moment — we’re just trying to keep up,” the society’s regional vice-president Brendan Dempsey said.

“There is unprecedented demand out there at the moment. Calls for help are up by about 30% to 40%. But the response from the public has been overwhelming.”

Dozens of volunteers are expected to pack more than 3,000 food hampers with items donated by the public in recent weeks.

The city’s three major cash and carry outlets, Barry’s, MP O’Sullivan, and Musgrave, are supporting the food drive.

The charity also took delivery of a 1.5 tonnes of cheese and a tonne of rice, delivered under an EU scheme yesterday, which will be added to the hampers.

The parcels will be dispatched from the central packing depot to the society’s city and county parish conferences over the coming days, which will in turn deliver them to needy families.

The volunteers are also packing parcels of toys donated through the St Vincent de Paul’s annual toy drive. They will be delivered to families closer to Christmas.

Mr Dempsey said the society made some 400,000 house calls across the country last year.

“That’s going to be up significantly this year,” he said.

“And we spent some €5.5m on delivery aid services last year, including operating our hostels.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if that figure was well over €6m this year.

“But we have had such help this year. Our operation appears to be running smoother than it did last year.

“With the amount of volunteers we have, it just makes life easier for us.”

Mr Dempsey said St Vincent de Paul volunteers have never seen it so tough on the ground.

He spoke of the “suffering middle class” as well as those “on the bottom of the ladder” who are really suffering.