AFTER 18 years of helping the homeless in Ennis and throughout Clare Josie O’Brien has revealed that this will be her last year cooking Christmas dinner for the county’s most vulnerable.

Over the years Josie has invited people to her home for Christmas and Easter dinner, as well as preparing food to be delivered to people in need. Covid-19 meant that the dinners at her home were stopped, but Josie and her team continued to supply hampers and meals.

However, the 69-year-old says this Christmas will be her last time taking on the mammoth endeavour, telling us she is “burned out” from years of campaigning, fundraising and supporting those living on the streets as well as others in difficulty.

Josie is hopeful that someone else may step in to help keep the annual Christmas dinner going, saying she feels the homeless situation is “getting worse” however she has done all that she can at this stage.

“I’m doing this for 18 years and I’m not doing it again after this year which will be the 18th annual Christmas dinner for the homeless and others. I’m just burned out from it and I want to thank everybody who has supported our little cause over the years. I couldn’t have done anything without the people who supported us, they have just been amazing, but I just need to do things for myself now.”

The end of the Christmas dinner will also see the end of the fundraising Christmas Choir concerts which over the years has seen a host of musicians perform including Hot House Flowers and Luka Bloom.

She says that when she first had the idea to hold a Christmas dinner for the homeless she had no idea how much it would grow.

“It all started when I came out of Bushy Park where I had gone for alcohol addiction. I had to change the way I was, look at life from a different perspective because I didn’t want to be a drunk, I wanted to be sober.”

“I’m not one to sit down and do nothing, and I couldn’t do anything I’m not passionate about. I was always passionate about the homeless because I was homeless myself.

“I met a homeless person at the Height, who has since passed away, and I asked where they were going for Christmas and they said nowhere. I said you can have Christmas dinner with me.

“I said I’d do a Christmas dinner for the homeless, I hadn’t a clue at the time where we were going to have it, but I knew we were going to have it. I put the word out to see if there was an interest and we ended up having the first event in the old Fahy Hall. It just blossomed from there.”

She went on to organise Christmas dinners in her own home and the annual event expanded to include an Easter dinner. Funds for the dinner were raised through the Christmas concert while she also received local support from generous members of the public.

Josie and her helpers also prepared hampers to give to vulnerable people who didn’t have access to cooking facilities and delivered hot meals during the year to those living on the streets.

She says she “loved every minute” of her time helping others. “I absolutely loved cooking in the winter time and getting it all ready, posting everything up on Facebook so everybody knew where the donations were going to. But as the years have gone on I just got tired and I don’t have the energy anymore, I’m nearly 70.”

In recent years Josie has seen an increase in the numbers of people seeking support, and not just from those who are homeless.

“People that are working now and are not homeless are contacting me for help. We give hampers with proper dinners for them to cook themselves because they have to make the choice between paying the mortgage to keep the roof over their heads or food. We do a lot of that now.”

While she has seen people in desperate conditions living on the streets, she has also been touched to see how a little bit of support can change someone’s life for the better.

“I’ve seen people who have made it through and that’s what kept me going. I’ve seen people turn their lives around in a big way. Recently I met someone who is working now and when I first me them they were very bad, a total mess.”

Josie has been “overwhelmed” with the support she has received over the years. “People are just fantastic, but you can’t keep asking the same people to help. So many people have donated to our little cause over the years and it’s been amazing to see.”

While she believes giving up the endeavour is necessary she admits that she will find it emotional organising her last Christmas dinner deliveries.

“It was always lovely having the dinner in my house, I’d have all my furniture upstairs on the landing and I’d put two tables in and have a big fire lit. I haven’t done the dinner in my home in the last couple of years because of Covid but we did the hampers and I’ll be doing that this year.

“I’ll put the word out that if anybody wants a dinner they can contact me and once I have the numbers I’ll cook the dinners. I have no idea how many we will have this year. I’ll be very sad for the last one, but I have decided this is something I have to do. If somebody else wants to do this and cook the dinners, then the best of luck to them.”