How a chance encounter at a Dublin soup run was the beginning of a very special friendship.
A homeless woman was so struck by the kindness of a stranger at a Dublin soup kitchen that she named her baby after her.
The woman had been sleeping in doorways with her partner when she met Sinéad Kane at the 'Hope in the Darkness' soup kitchen outside the GPO.
How a chance encounter at a Dublin soup run was the beginning of a very special friendship. #homelessness pic.twitter.com/vGw4loQFgj
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) December 19, 2017
Ms Kane said she was "shattered and heartbroken" when the heavily pregnant woman explained she had nowhere else to go.
Through her contacts, Ms Kane helped the couple to find emergency accommodation and also crowdsourced an array of baby goods including a cot, a buggy and clothes.
Three weeks later the woman gave birth to a baby girl in the Rotunda Hospital. She named her baby Sinéad.
Baby Sinéad's mother wishes to remain anonymous but has described Ms Kane as her "angel".
Ms Kane said: "I'm so proud. She's gorgeous. Even my own grandchild is not named after me."
Baby Sinéad and her parents are spending this Christmas in emergency accommodation.
