Bro. Kevin ‘heartbroken’ as food queues increase due to virus job losses

The number of people getting food from the Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin has increased with people coming who aren’t homeless but “struggling to make ends meet” due to the pandemic, according to Bro. Kevin Crowley OFM Cap.

Speaking on The Irish Catholic’s ‘From the Editor’s Desk’, Bro. Kevin also expressed concern about the number of children brought to the centre for food. He described the situation as “appalling”.

“I was really saddened and heartbroken that here we are in Ireland in 2020 and we have people queuing up for food, for food parcels for dinners,” he said. “The biggest problem we have at the moment is the number of people that are coming for meals every day.”

Bro. Kevin said they are currently open and giving out takeaway meals. In the morning about 200 people come for breakfast, in the afternoon it rises to 900.

“What really concerns me most of all at the moment are the number of people who are not just homeless people but people who are finding it very difficult to make ends meet, people who have lost their jobs, these are the people who are coming to us at the moment,” he said

“The other big concern I have too are the number of children, we’d have anything up to 60 or 70 families with little children coming here every day again for meals. That saddens me because a lot of those have to go back to a hotel and sometimes maybe they’re not getting food and maybe the only food they are getting is what we’re giving them.”

Bro. Kevin said the restrictions due to the pandemic will be “very difficult”, especially for grandparents, over the Christmas. He asked people who won’t be able to see their loved ones “to pray for them and to be with them in spirit”.

“So many grandparents call me during the week making donations and what they say to me is ‘the saddest thing for us this Christmas is not being able to meet our grandchildren, they won’t be able to visit us and that’s so sad for us’.

“My message to each and every one of them is to trust in God, trust in Our Lady and trust in the birth of the child Jesus come to their homes at Christmas time.”