BELFAST City Centre is set to come alive with the sound of music on Thursday evening as The People’s Kitchen hold a busking event in Corn Market to raise much-needed funds for their services.
The event, hosted by one of Belfast’s finest comedians, Nuala McKeever, forms part of Homeless Awareness Week and will kick off at 7:30pm with performances from the likes of Malojian, Amanda St John, Stephen Rafferty, Joe Rocks and other guests.
Explaining how the idea came about, event organiser and People’s Kitchen volunteer, Damian McNairney said that he had been having a chat with the organiser of the Dublin Busk on Grafton Street, Glen Hansard, and the idea developed from there.
“Two years ago I had been talking to Stevie Scullion who performs as Malojian and Matt Maginn about doing something for the People’s Kitchen and they agreed. The idea for the busk came from my conversation with Glen and he has been very helpful in terms of ideas but unfortunately his dates don’t match up but he was very positive about the idea of musicians coming together for a common purpose.
“We are hoping that the event will attract late night shoppers. We will have eight or nine musicians singing cover songs, Christmas carols and hopefully Slade will be brought out at some stage as well.
“It will be the chance to have a bit of craic but our main focus is raising funds for the People’s Kitchen.
Christmas is just an awful time of the year for a lot of people and poverty is just increasing. There are now close to 9,000 people on the housing waiting list. We were out on the streets last night again and the number of rough sleepers is just increasing as well.”
Money raised from the event will go towards the services provided by The People’s Kitchen including their outreach, community hub and also their foodbank.
Detailing why she felt it important to come on board and support the event, Nuala McKeever described homelessness as a political decision.
“Like most people, you go through the town, you see the news and you see people in sleeping bags and you think that it is awful, what can I do? You stop, you say hello, you give a bit of money and it hurts your heart.
“The inequality of life here is linked to the government policies. It doesn’t happen by chance. This is not something that happens when people lose control of their lives. That can be a reason for some people to end up on the street but more and more we are seeing ‘ordinary people’ like you and me, who didn’t expect to be like this.
“People without a history of incarceration or mental health problems or addiction. You are seeing more and more people ending up without somewhere to call home and it is just unacceptable.”
Paying tribute to the work of The People’s Kitchen, Nuala recognised that it can be difficult for some people.
“We are a very wealthy society and it is really challenging for people. You want to push it away but Damien and the ones at The People’s Kitchen do something.
“They are the people who say this isn’t ok, we are going to do something. Nobody is out on the street of their own accord and this image of a homeless person being an old guy with whiskers and a bottle in a brown bag is the past.
“There was a famous billboard which said that everybody is only two paychecks away from losing their home. It is scary.
“What annoys me is that it is political. We have seen that the government can move to get people off the streets when there was a big enough push during the first lockdown. There is space and it is never a lack of ability it is always a lack of will.
“I salute the People's Kitchen and the work they are doing. There is no better way to raise money than by cheering people up, giving them great music and I might even burst out a couple of bars myself. But if you give enough money then I will keep quiet,” she joked.
