Musgrave Retail Partners have given quite the Christmas present to Cork Penny Dinners, writes Claire O’Sullivan.

Just four days out from the biggest dinner of the year, the retailer contacted the Cork charity — which will serve up a full Christmas dinner to more than 200 people on Christmas Day — to tell them that they would like to donate €25,000.

The donation is part of the €200,000 it raised in the 2016 Musgrave Triathlon.

Other beneficiaries are Breakthrough Cancer Research and Irish Autism Action, who will receive €150,000 and €25,000 each.

Demand for Christmas dinner is now so high at Cork Penny Dinners that the nearby River Lee Hotel has stepped in to supply food made from its far more expansive kitchen.

In 2012, Cork Penny Dinners served about 100 meals every week. Now it is serving nearly 2,000.

Last year, the soup kitchen charity on Little Hanover St in the city was involved in an RTÉ Television makeover.

Celebrity hoteliers John and Francis Brennan spent five weeks filming the project for an At Your Service Christmas Day special.

The once-narrow, cramped kitchen was replaced with an industrial kitchen and walk-in cold room, the dining area was overhauled and repainted, new floors laid, a new roof was put down, and the building was insulated.

This article first appeared in the Irish Examiner.