Cork Penny Dinners overwhelmed by generosity as they prepare to feed 200 on Christmas Day

It’s been branded the miracle on Little Hanover Street — as a city rallies to help a charity which expects to feed 200 people in Cork city on Christmas Day.

Penny Dinners spokeswoman, Catriona Twomey, said they have been overwhelmed by the generosity of people with traffic jams on the narrow street outside the charity’s tiny soup kitchen early yesterday as more donations arrived.

And later, sports legends including Roy Keane, Tomas Ó Sé, Thomas Mulcahy and Rob Heffernan were among those who dropped in to support broadcaster, Trevor Welch's, fundraising booksale.

“You have no idea of the generosity and the kindness of people — especially at this time of the year. I can assure you that the stuff is going out as fast as it’s coming in,” Ms Twomey said.

But she warned:

We are seeing more and more people who are working, but for one reason or another, just can’t make ends meet. Their world can be turned upside down by just one thing. For some, it’s the sudden loss of a job or the arrival of an unexpected bill. For some, it’s illness or an unexpected bereavement.

"For others, it’s being trapped in emergency accommodation and we are focusing on them this Christmas day in a big way.”

She said she is constantly moved by the faces of mothers who are living in emergency accommodation and struggling to maintain a sense of normality for their children.

“They look OK during their first visit to us but as time goes on, you can see a change — you can see the pain, the hurt, the exhaustion as the horror of their situation dawns on them," she said.

“I can assure them that we will be doing everything we can to take away the stress of this time of the year from them, and to take away the horror of loneliness on Christmas Day.”

Among those who dropped off donations yesterday were parents and students of CBC Preparatory School at Sidney Hill who used money raised at a recent parent’s council event to buy more than 60 kids' new warm winter coats and dozens of woolly hats from Penneys in Wilton and Dunnes Stores on St Patrick’s St.

Chairwoman of the parent’s council, Hilary O’Shea, said a warm winter coat is a basic at this time of year but it can also be a Christmas treat.

"This will hopefully take the worry of that expense away from dozens of families,” she said.

High Hopes choir will perform at the soup kitchen on Christmas day while volunteers serve up a Christmas feast with all the trimmings, which will be provided free of charge by the nearby River Lee Hotel.

- You can donate at corkpennydinners.ie