Chai Brady
Fr Eugene O’Neill and Paul McCusker from St Patrick’s Soup Kitchen accept a cheque and food from Bev Patterson, prisoner development unit and Rachel Dinsmore, governor of activities at Hydebank raised by the staff and inmates of the facility.
Photo: Mal McCann Staff and inmates at Hydebank Wood College and Women’s Prison have given food and raised £500 for a soup kitchen in Belfast.
NI prison chaplain Fr Stephen McBrearty said St Patrick’s Church on Donegall Street, where the soup kitchen is located, was a site that some of the young male offenders and female prisoners would have used “when they found themselves in difficulty when on the streets”.
“They wanted to give back and it really is wonderful,” he said. The money was raised through a ‘Fitness for Food’ fundraiser to mark World Hunger Day. The young men and women competed in a variety of sports including cycling, skiing and running.
Residents
The residents, Fr McBrearty said, have also been baking for the NHS and sending flowers from their garden to people who have been isolating during the coronavirus pandemic.
“All these sorts of initiatives really have given them all a magnificent purpose. They feel worthwhile. As I’ve always said to them, they’re not ever the total sum of their actions, there’s much more to them. All in all, it was a great project and I dare say it won’t be the last,” he said.
“It goes beyond sectarianism, creed and colour, everybody mucks in for everybody, it’s very good. We’re getting somewhere in these dark days.”