A West Belfast business is pulling out all the stops this Christmas to give something back and help those in need as the festive period approaches.
Owners of Springfield Road-based Bobby’s Bistro, Anthony McKiernan and Robert Lewsley, will be spending Christmas Day preparing and serving dinner at St Patrick’s soup kitchen in Donegall Street.
“As well as the sit in side of the business we do a lot of outside catering and at the end of the parties we would ask the host if they want to bring the leftover food home with them or if they would rather we donate it to the homeless, “ said Anthony. “When we go down to deliver the food to the homeless, honestly, it’s like giving them a million pounds, it’s touched us so much people’s reaction over the years.
“For Christmas Day we will be preparing all the food to feed the homeless in St Patrick’s soup kitchen. We are fortunate enough to have this business this past two years, it’s time to give back and do something for other people as we are grateful for what we have here.
“We have set up a wee collection box as well in the café and anything that’s raised will go towards buying toiletries, cases of water, essentials really, and we will split that between the soup kitchen and other homeless shelters.”
Anthony said that since he and Robert began their outreach to the homeless in the city centre they’ve seen a big increase in the number of people in need.
“At the start, maybe it was just a handful, and now you can see more and more people, it’s really heartbreaking. At the end of the day I can see my family on Christmas morning and come back to them to have dinner. For the people coming to the soup kitchen, this is their Christmas Day dinner and we will be doing the works for them.
People can still donate up to December 22 and we want to thank all the people who have taken the time to donate so far.”
