The annual Lions Club food appeal is coping with an increased demand for its Christmas parcels for the needy, with the public donating more than €2.5 million worth of goods this year.
Lions clubs members have been collecting food outside supermarkets all over the country and expect to give parcels to more than 10,000 families over Christmas. There are around 113 clubs and almost 3,000 club members around the country,
Mr Paddy O'Donnell, co-ordinator for the clubs' food appeal, said that poverty has become worse. The food appeal has been running for 20 years. Mr O'Donnell said the people they help are usually too proud to go to St Vincent de Paul.
"The problems come back to the fact that the State can't help out and these people are not getting enough. These are people who are too proud to let it be known and so other people have to step in and let us know.
"We try and make up the parcels according to who needs them. For instance, we might be told of a deserted wife with three children, so we would put in a few toys as well," he said.
When the food appeal first started, people gave tins of beans. Now they donate tins of biscuits, Christmas puddings and other non-perishable goods including toys, he said.
The food parcels do not stop when Christmas is over, Mr O'Donnell added.
"Some people are so in need that we give a second delivery around the end of January, when they think they have been forgotten."