For 50 years a team of dedicated part-time volunteers have helped make sure our Soup Run is open and available every night of the year, from 7:00pm to 8:00pm. The Soup Run was our first service back in 1971 and can often be the first point of contact for people pushed over the edge and into homelessness here in Cork.

Our Soup Run offers hot nourishing food, blankets and warm clothing where needed, and a friendly listening ear. Working with our Outreach Team, the Soup Run can help quickly identify people who may be sleeping rough, or who have just become homeless, as well as people at risk of losing their homes.

In all cases our Outreach Team works to make sure people have access to the most appropriate service – whether that be a bed in our Emergency Shelter or Night Light service, an appointment with the health team, a referral to our Youth Homeless Drug Prevention service or an appointment with other, more appropriate services here in Cork.

Many of the men and women the Soup Run meets are isolated with little or no social support networks, are vulnerable and excluded, and at risk of becoming homeless.

“Without the Soup Run, I would have starved; I’d probably be dead by now. It was the only way I had to get food.” - 'Ronan'

Covid-19

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic we have had to re-orientate our Soup Run service to facilitate social distancing and other health & safety measures to protect as much as possible everyone presenting to the service, our volunteers and staff.

We moved quickly to alert, inform and train our staff and volunteers to address the risks. We immediately introduced essential measures such as social distancing, use of Personal Protective Equipment and hand sanitising. While our Soup Run is now a takeaway service, we continue to make sure everyone has the hot food and warm clothing they need, and we continue to make sure everyone has access to the services they need.

We worked to make sure everyone using our Soup Run was constantly reminded of the importance of hand and respiratory hygiene, and the need for social distancing. All of these measures remain in place.

See how Covid-19 has impacted every aspect of our work, and the men and women depending on our services.

674 men and women depended on our Soup Run last year. We served 11,467 hot meals.