The Crosscare community cafe in Portland Row, Dublin, is seeing demand go up as well as its costs, according to senior manager for community services Yvonne Fleming.
She says that the impact of inflation was really noticeable towards the end of the year and it is hard to find a steady source of funding.
“Our cafe is open to everybody and you can get a three course meal for €5. We have our income from what people pay for the food, but that doesn’t cover the cost. We’re competing with other NGOs for funds and donations. It is difficult, but we are reluctant to put up our costs because we know people are struggling with the cost of living.”
“You’re dealing with rising costs of staff, food and energy. The costs are going up, but the demand is also going up at the same time.”
The background of people coming there for meals has changed radically, due to the extreme costs facing Dubliners.
“A couple of decades ago when we were doing this, it was people with really obvious issues like homelessness or addiction; not so now. We have families and we have working people coming in. People might have decent jobs but if they are in private rented accommodation in Dublin and have a kid in childcare, they’re really pressed. If they can come in and have a dinner every day they bring down the dinner and cooking costs at home,” she said.
Crosscare also offers a citywide service in food poverty casework
Crosscare was founded in 1941 by the Catholic Church and its mission is simple – “to support people at those times when life gets tough”. As well as Portland Row cafe, Yvonne Fleming says the organisation helps those struggling with food poverty in other ways too.
“We also have what we call a food poverty casework service, for if you are in food poverty, are looking for groceries and can’t afford them.
“We are different to a foodbank in that we offer this casework service where we say – come and collect your groceries, you can select them off shelves like a shop, with some rules around quantity, but we also want you to meet with a caseworker. They’ll help you look at why you are in this position, look at the money coming into and out of the household, how can you be helped, are you getting your full suite of social protection entitlements, could you restructure debt, could we help you with that. Are you paying the correct rent for your social housing property, things like that. People sometimes don’t realise they can change an energy provider or phone provider, and we coach them on making those calls.”
That service is also available in other parts of the city.
“The case work service is also in Finglas Village, Finglas West and Jobstown, but we are servicing all of Dublin. People can ring us from anywhere and we’ll agree someplace for them to go to. If they can get a bus into town we’ll say come to Portland Row.
“We’re trying to build that model of the two things together in multiple locations, but it’s hard to get the money. We have some support from the Department of Social Protection and some from the HSE, but nowhere near the full cost of running it.
“The monies that we are getting from statutory agencies; it’s all annual. So you’re employing people, trying to keep them because they are really good staff, but your money is annual,” she said.
The cafe gives people a chance to get a nutritious dinner for a very reasonable price, and some people utilise it as much as they can.
“We are trying to shuffle around our menus and also to give really good food that people like. We do quite a traditional menu. People like to have a good dinner.
“Some people come in twice a week, have their dinner and get a takeaway meal for the next day. They might get a payment, their social welfare or their pension or whatever, and they might buy five meal vouchers for the next five days or the next week, so they know that at least they’ll have their dinner every day,” she added.
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