3,000 food vouchers given to homeless by Dublin-based charity

3,000 food vouchers were recently given out by a Dublin-based charity to help homeless people over the Christmas period.

The Capuchin Day Centre charity said it has handed out 3,000 €50 Dunnes Stores vouchers on Tuesday morning.

These vouchers can be used to purchase food or clothes, but cannot be used to purchase alcohol, tobacco or lottery cards.

According to RTÉ News, a long queue formed outside the charity's premises near Smithfield in Dublin.

It added that, just before 8am, around 300 people had gathered. 

The charity has been giving out Christmas food hampers every year since the 1970s, but in the interest of health and safety in relation to the pandemic, it gave out vouchers instead (the charity did the same last year).

Before the pandemic, the group was doing 500-600 eat-in dinners daily.

Now, that service has switched to takeaway, and the number of meals being made has risen to between 700-800.