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With National Volunteering week in full flight (May 13th – May 19th) it is a fitting occasion to honour those who make the city soup run possible. This week is about recognising the goodwill and the great work done by volunteers across the country.

Novas Initiatives Soup Run, co-ordinated on a voluntary basis by staff member Sinead Carey, is run entirely by local volunteers. Seven nights a week, two volunteers meet in Novas’ McGarry House to collect the food, which is distributed outside the former Ferguson’s Chemist premises on O’Connell Street.

Because of the exposure the soup run received following the airing of The Secret Millionaire in September 2012 and the generous donation of philanthropist Richard Mulcahy, Novas was thereafter in a position to roll-out the service to provide sustenance every night of the week. Prior to this, the service was disbanded at weekends as the funding for food was not available.

Last year some 4,000 meals were distributed to the needy in Limerick City. Not all those in receipt of food were homeless, some were managing to maintain their own accommodation, and the hot meal provided by the Novas Soup Run was the difference between being able to continue paying rent and being on the street. Through the extension of the service to 365 days a year and the increasing number of people entrenched in poverty, it is envisioned that the number of meals distributed this year will rise significantly.

Sinead Carey, Deputy Manager of McGarry House, who organises the soup run in her own time says that ‘it is the goodwill of the volunteers and the generosity of The Greenhills Hotel and Foodcourt Catering’, that make the soup run possible and ‘without their commitment to the programme, people would be going hungry.’ She believes National Volunteering Week to be an ideal occasion ‘to extend a heartfelt thank you to all those who graciously give their time to help people less fortunate and those who generously donate to the programme.’

Sinead and Annette O’Carroll (a volunteer on the run) were awarded Limerick Person of the Month last September on behalf of all the volunteers involved in the soup run.