A cafe in Ringsend in Dublin has expanded its free lunch scheme to provide 150 nutritious packed lunches every day to people who are cocooning in the community.
The Fair Play Cafe had been running its "share your lunch" initiative before Covid-19, which saw it provide free meals to people in need, but since restrictions were put in place and its doors were closed to the public, the initiative has grown into something bigger.
Every day the staff of the cafe volunteer their time to prepare and assemble lunch packs for people cocooning in the Ringsend, Sandymount, Irishtown and Donnybrook areas. The packs contain sandwiches, soup, pastries and fresh fruit.
The initiative runs on GoFundMe donations and is also supported by local businesses and community schemes.
"We felt right at the beginning we would work on a referral system," Joe Donnelly of the Fair Play Cafe said.
"The local police have a great community system and they refer people to us, the district nurses do too, some council staff as well, but most come from concerned neighbours…"
