Anyone who would like to attend Caring Christmas at Claudes or volunteer on the day, can call Claudes on 02871 279379, call at Claudes Cafe on Shipquay Street or private message them on their Facebook page.

because we were humbly and honestly doing it, the guests felt it too.

“They felt like guests, they didn’t feel like they were coming to some sort of soup kitchen or that it was hand-outs. It was done with great dignity.

“There is no one rejected at Caring Christmas at Claudes — as long as there is no drink taken. We have had guests who are street drinkers but we just tell them to stay sober on the day and we have had years where we delivered dinners out onto the streets to the lads.”

Mr O’Donnell said it’s about “a dignified sense of giving at Christmas”.

He added: “Everyone is collected and brought to the cafe, treated as a guest and left home safe. Or we can arrange for dinner to be brought to you by two people.

“Perhaps you are happy to stay on your own and just receive the dinner at the door or, if you are happy, the two people will come in at your invitation, warm the dinner up and sit with you and chat to you for a while. We try to stay away from that label of hand-out or charity. They are very much invited guests.”

Mr O’Donnell said guests have a wide variety of challenges.

“It could be finances, it could be circumstances, it could be everything that life throws at us,” he added.

“We had a family one year whose house had burnt down just before Christmas, for example.

“So it’s the full gamut of life, who are challenged in one way or another. They are welcomed here with open arms, they are served dinner, they are given presents, they have good company and they are left home feeling good.

“It’s like a private invitation guest list for a spectrum of society who maybe wouldn’t be treated that way and their dignity is so important to us.”

Dermot says that the feeling he gets at the end of the day, when he and the team have cooked dinner for 120 people, is one of magic and wonder, the true meaning of Christmas.

❝ The are welcomed with open arms, served dinner, given presents, and they are left home feeling good