Food bank feeds 100 families per week

IT HAS been a challenging 18 months for food banks that had to drastically reimagine how they could continue to help vulnerable families despite the restrictions imposed by Covid.

The food bank run by the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) in Cherry Orchard was temporarily forced to close early on in the pandemic, due to a lack of manpower in dealing with the Covid-19 crisis, with many of their volunteers in the vulnerable age category themselves.

An alliance between SVP, the Ballyfermot Chapelizod Partnership, Dublin City Council, gardai and De La Salle GAA, formed to maintain the service for a few months from the Ballyfermot Civic Centre.

However, the food bank has long since returned to it’s familiar location at Cherry Orchard Community Centre. Managed by Charles Molloy, from SVP, it feeds approximately 100 families per week, every Friday.

“It was at the civic centre for three months but came back to Cherry Orchard in August 2020, every Friday, and every second Friday during summer,” said David O’Donovan, Dublin City Council Area Manager for D10 and 12.

“It is all done with social distancing and staggered so that people arrive at certain times over the course of four hours. Numbers dropped a little during the year with kids at home from school, some parents don’t live

near the school, but it is fairly regular. “We often get an additional two to three families, coming from SVP, but they deal with that directly.”

Meanwhile, major works have been taking place at Cherry Orchard Community Centre, which has seen this week, the installation of a brand new sports floor.

Gradually reopening in recent times in accordance with national guidelines, the centre are delighted to welcome back some of their members including Mica’s Hairdressing, Dublin Circus, Cherry Orchard Boxing Club, and numerous other local groups.