{"id":220899,"date":"2025-12-07T23:12:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T23:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/220899\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T23:12:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T23:12:14","slug":"volunteers-travel-home-from-abroad-to-help-people-in-need-at-rds-christmas-charity-dinner-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/220899\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteers travel home from abroad to help people in need at RDS Christmas charity dinner \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a packed room in Ely House in Dublin<\/a> city, hands shoot into the air as the option is given to volunteer as a table host at this year\u2019s Christmas<\/a> dinner charity event at the RDS<\/a> for those in need.<\/p>\n

A table host is one of the most sought after roles among volunteers who attend the induction day for the Christmas charity event on Sunday, December 7th.<\/p>\n

Grace O\u2019Dowd has been a volunteer at the Christmas dinner event, organised by the Knights of Columbanus, for 15 years despite living in London full-time.<\/p>\n

She has held the role of a table host every year and loves it. <\/p>\n

She explains how it sees her sit with the guests, ensure they feel welcome and included, get served their three course dinner, clear away the tables after eating and chat with them. <\/p>\n

Meeting and talking with the guests is her favourite part of the day. \u201cWhen you see their faces, up dancing and chatting, it\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also said that understanding their circumstances and ensuring they are treated with respect and dignity are important. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s anything we can help with, we do. If there\u2019s not, then we just ensure they have a great time before they have to go back out, usually to their hostels or temporary accommodation, or wherever they unfortunately park themselves on the street.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally from Foxrock in Dublin, she currently lives in London where she works in project management at a bank. <\/p>\n

She got involved with the Knights of Columbanus\u2019s festive charity event when she was looking for a way \u201cto give back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two years ago she joined the organising committee of the event. <\/p>\n

She travels to Dublin for Sunday\u2019s volunteer induction which is mandatory and comes home on December 22nd and stays until St Stephen\u2019s Day every year.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0St Vincent de Paul\u2019s 900 calls for help in a single morningOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\"VolunteersVolunteers Dara Golden from Bray and Orla Conlon from Clondalkin. Photograph: Bryan Meade <\/p>\n

On December 23rd and 24th, she will be there from morning time to 1pm or 2pm, setting up. On Christmas Day, she volunteers from 7am until 3pm or 4pm. On St Stephen\u2019s day, she is cleaning up from 10am and flies back to London that evening. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a busy time, but I love it,\u201d she said. In the future, she hopes to get her nieces and nephews volunteering. <\/p>\n

This will be Orla Conlon\u2019s third year to volunteer. Each year she has been a table host.<\/p>\n

She loves doing it as it\u2019s \u201cthe only time they (guests) have in the whole year that people actually sit and listen to them. You give them that time, you let them speak.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Christmas day, she starts at 7am, with guests arriving from 9am. She also tries to help out on preparation days of December 23rd and 24th, if she has time off from her job as a senior manager in the civil registration service.<\/p>\n

From Clondalkin, she said volunteers are \u201cflat out\u201d once they start. It\u2019s a busy day, when you\u2019re finished, you\u2019re shattered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dara Golden from Bray, will also be volunteering for the third year.<\/p>\n

The artist and organic gardener explained she has always liked helping people and wanted to pay a good deed forward.<\/p>\n

Previously her role was to serve the drinks and this year she will be behind the bar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually feel that the volunteers get as much, if not more, out of it than the guests because you\u2019re not thinking about yourself. You\u2019re thinking about somebody else, and you\u2019re trying to make what could be the only day out of a miserable existence a little better by treating them with dignity and respect and as human.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou feel like you\u2019ve done a good thing. It\u2019s like an echo of goodness coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n

She volunteers from December 23rd through to the 26th.<\/p>\n

\"TrevorTrevor Macnamara has been the chair of the organising committee for the Christmas dinner event for the last three years. Photograph: Bryan Meade <\/p>\n

Trevor Macnamara, a retired engineer from Kildare has been the chair of the organising committee for the Christmas dinner event for the last three years. He has been involved with the festive event for 12 years and with the Knights of Columbanus for 20 years.<\/p>\n

2025 will be the event\u2019s 101st year in operation. <\/p>\n

He explained that preparation begins in September. On October 1st, volunteer registration opens and every year it has been oversubscribed with so many people wanting to help. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe late Br Kevin Crowley shaking hands with Pope Francis at the Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin. Photograph: Maxwell Photography\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

The induction day welcomed around 200 volunteers and a special mass was celebrated in memory of Brother Kevin Crowley<\/a>, the Capuchin Brother and founder of the Capuchin Day Centre<\/a>, who died in July 2025. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe dedicated his life to helping the poor, the marginalised in the greater Dublin area.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JoeJoe McEvoy registering volunteers, with Zhang Mao Maguire aged 10 and Kai Zhang Maguire aged 8 from Stillorgan. Photograph: Bryan Meade <\/p>\n

When the Capuchin Day Centre would close on Christmas day, its only day off once a year, Brother Kevin would still visit the RDS and would know nearly all of the guests, recalls Macnamara.<\/p>\n

Volunteers will serve up to 550 guests at this year\u2019s Christmas dinner and will prepare another 5,500 meals for volunteers of organisations such as Alone, Meals on Wheels, the Simon Community, Age Action Ireland and more to deliver to people who need them. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I collapse in a heap on Christmas Eve\u2019: Meet the foodmakers behind some Irish festive favouritesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a packed room in Ely House in Dublin city, hands shoot into the air as the option…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,119260,16838,18,19,17,12862],"class_list":{"0":"post-220899","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-capuchin-day-centre","10":"tag-christmas","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-rds"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115680821404556709","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}