Penny Dinners

Woodcutting

Is Penny Dinners a legit charity.? I don't understand how all the volunteers can give their time all the time. I've seen photos, they seem young. Would they not have jobs?

the beer revolu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058343086/penny-dinners

Workers getting paid, doesn't mean it's not a legit charity.

I have no idea whether these charity workers are paid or not. Perhaps a large pool of people volunteer just one day each a week?

I'm curious as to what you are trying to get at here.

endacl

Reg charity number: CHY 4971

Woodcutting

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121930067#Comment_121930067

They say all staff are volunteering. Maybe each one does one day.

Rows Grower

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121930133#Comment_121930133

Why would you doubt what they say?

A lot of people like to help out the less fortunate in many different ways.

I know Roy Keane has often been in there serving meals when he's back in Cork.

Woodcutting

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121930154#Comment_121930154

I didn't say I doubt what they say. I saw ex staff member not happy on reddit

beachhead

Been registered a while

scrotist

Can anybody go for dinner there or is it just for homeless people?

beer enigma

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121930133#Comment_121930133

They are a registered charity and most "core volunteers" give their own time for free. Penny dinners does have a handful of paid employees; like any charity it doesn't run itself, it has people dealing with administration, HACCP heath etc who get paid, albeit not highly.

I have volunteered myself and know a few people who regularly volunteer. A couple of those, whilst not getting paid, do get an evening meal and that's equally as important to them. Other than the volunteers, the service is exclusively for those in need.

Dbu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121939027#Comment_121939027

I think their policy is to feed anyone who calls in , without asking any questions.

I Heard that lady in charge on radio a few times, seems to be an incredible person

Iguarantee

I don’t have any experience of dealing with them except for this:

Pre-COVID my wife and I said that instead of giving each other Christmas presents we’d give something to Penny Dinners; so we contacted them and arranged for them to have €150 credit with a local butchers (English Market). They never claimed it.

The following year we arranged for a second round of credit (another €150) and they never claimed it.

So, legit or not, they won’t get a cent from me as long as I live.

cantalach

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121947772#Comment_121947772

So you tried to decide which supplier they should use but they made their own decision, perhaps based on years of experience with a well-practiced process. That's shocking all right.

cantalach

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058343086/penny-dinners

Have you been in there? Call in and then decide for yourself based on what you see.

Rows Grower

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121941217#Comment_121941217

Caitríona Twomney is the lady in charge and she is indeed an incredible person, a qualified psychotherapist and mother of 7 she devotes all her time and energy to Penny Dinners free of charge and has been doing it for decades. Anyone and everyone is welcome to visit and avail of the services which include a sit down 3 course meal, takeaway food packages or just a cup of tea and a chat with someone who is willing to listen. They feed on average 1,500 people a day. The volunteers in there are from all walks of life and from all over the world.

About 10 years ago they wanted to modernise the premises and put out an appeal for any local tradespersons that might be able to help out and do some work voluntarily, the response they got was off the scale. There was dozens of companies and hundreds of workers volunteered their time and materials free of charge to complete the project and they turned an aging building into a state of the art facility. There's alot of people alive and well today only because of Penny Dinners.

Iguarantee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121948430#Comment_121948430

I shouldn’t have been so inconsiderate as to presume that the charity didn’t want charity.

Thanks for setting me straight.

cantalach

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121953129#Comment_121953129

Sorry but the most obvious thing to do was give them cash and let them decide how and where to spend it. That’s the way it has always worked when a club I’m involved with provides assistance to Penny Dinners. The money is always very gratefully received and put to good use. Charities always prefer to do things on their terms.

Iguarantee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121954579#Comment_121954579

They offer a valuable service to people that need it. I have zero criticism of their charity work, I think they're awesome.

I understand the point you just made, but we own the butchery business in question and (unbeknownst to Penny Dinners) would have matched our own contribution by 100% so they'd have gotten €150 from us and a further €150 from the business on the spot i.e. €600 in total across the two gifts we offered. We could always offer them more through the business than we could in cash i.e. we couldn't give them €600 in cash.

FYI to put it in perspective, €600 is ~100kg of beef mince i.e. ~800 1/4 pounder burgers. That's a lot of food, for free!

Legitimately, I couldn't care less who they choose as their supplier, however, (not once, but twice) a gift was given to a charity (that actively asks for gifts!) and they didn't bother their arse walking 10 minutes down the street to claim it. No problem, I won't offer again.

FYI this was 4 or 5 years ago, so COVID etc. has nothing to do with it.

Deeec

Donations should be greatfully accepted and used be it in cash, goods, vouchers or help. I would be very wary of a charity that only wants cash!

Mav11

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121955565#Comment_121955565

I would be very wary of a charity that only wants cash!

Why? Many charities, such as the RNLI, Guide Dogs etc have no use for goods or vouchers!

Deeec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121956708#Comment_121956708

Why do you think the RNLI or Guide Dogs don't use goods or vouchers? Of course they use goods and services and a voucher would be greatly appreciated by both charities.

Unfortunately cash is untraceable and often ends up in someone's pocket rather than used as intended by the donor.

TheChizler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121955528#Comment_121955528

Why not arrange to drop the food in to them? They've always accepted anything whenever I've been involved in food collections and appeals for them. They're worked off their feet, organising someone to go collect things is complicating things, even though I'm sure they would have appreciated your good intentions.

Pauliedragon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121956941#Comment_121956941

They do accept packaged food. Maybe they don't have the facilities to store fresh meat.

Rows Grower

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121955528#Comment_121955528

I suppose there's always the worry that if a new sponsor came on board they might expect some small bit of publicity for it and that wouldn't really be in the ethos of the organisation.

It'd be a nice thing to donate a few vouchers to be raffled for the volunteers that do trojan work. I'll throw in 20 euro towards travel expenses, pm me your stall and I'll drop it in next time I'm in the city.