Retailer joins initiative to fight hunger

Brendan Dempsey has helped feed thousands of hard-pressed families in the Cork region in his role as vice-president of St Vincent de Paul. Now he’s delighted a dedicated, professional charity is about to take up the strain.

“I started collecting food in my car and handing it out to people,” said Mr Dempsey. “It quickly escalated, so I had to get a van and we had to store food in different places around Cork. It wasn’t ideal. Last year, I handled 300 tonnes of food.”

As he sat in the Bia Food Initiative’s (BiaFi) new 10,000sq ft warehouse in Little Island yesterday, he was adamant that “feeding the hungry” was now going to a new level.