Soaring inflation has hit everyone in the pocket, but community cafes, which offer discounted meals to disadvantaged communities, have really felt the hit. Linda Ledger is CEO of St Munchin’s Community Centre in Limerick, and she recently announced that for the first time in more than 20 years it will not be offering Christmas dinners on December 25.
“I can’t ask my staff to come in on Christmas Day when they mightn’t have a job next year,” she warned.
As well as the galloping inflation St Munchin’s is also facing a situation where it will not be able to access funding that had been made available to regeneration areas in Limerick for some time.
“Our running costs are €237,000. Last year we got €90,000 (from the Economic and Social intervention fund) towards it, this year we got €70,000 and next year we’ll get €50,000 if we’re lucky. Then it’ll be €25,000 and then it’s gone,” she said.
That loss comes at a time when outgoings are higher than ever. “Food, lighting and heat has gone through the roof. We would have had salmon once a month, we can’t do that now. Next year you have auto enrolment and the minimum wage is going up. I welcome all of that, but when you are trying to make up that money and you can’t pass it on to your customers, it’s a very hard situation to be in.”
She says that the people St Munchin’s Community Cafe serves have cut back on real essentials. “A lot of people now are having dinners on Monday, Wednesday and Friday instead of having a dinner every day. You can see they are cutting back.”
Linda also feels that the State really needs to support people on the ground, who are caught in a seemingly invisible crisis. “There’s a different world out there that no one seems to talk about or care about.”
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