Three Belfast charity cafes will be offering free meals to children under 12 in order to help families during the cost of living crisis.
Orchardville, a charity that provides help, support and opportunities to adults with learning disabilities and autism, is using its social enterprises in the city to give back to the communities that have supported them over the years.
It runs three Orchard Cafes in North, West and East Belfast that provide training to their service users which helps them with employability and social skills.
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Along side their full-time staff, the participants run both front of house and back in the cafes with many going on to work in other businesses within the hospitality sector.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Paris McDonagh, head of catering at Orchardville, said that they hoped they would be able to support the communities over the winter months that have been so good to them.
He said: "We are hoping to give back to the wonderful communities that have shown us so much support over the years by offering free meals to children under 12 at our three cafes in Belfast.
"We know how tough it is for everyone out there at the moment with rising prices and energy bills so we felt it was important to do something to say thank you to all of our customers who keep us going.
"At our Orchard Cafes we provide opportunities to our participants to gain employability and social skills working alongside our staff, with many going on to work with other established businesses in Belfast.
"The work they do and the atmosphere that our participants create is one of the main reasons that we have developed such a loyal customer base because they ensure that everyone has a truly wonderful experience and bit of fun with their meals.
"Over the course of December we will be running our offer and look forward to welcoming everyone to our cafes this festive season."
The Orchard Cafes that are running the offer are based on Newtownards Road in East Belfast, The Grove, York Road in North Belfast and Andersonstown Leisure Centre in West Belfast.
Orchardville works with hundreds of adults across Northern Ireland aged 16 to 65 through a range of different services that help them with social interaction, independent living and employability and life skills.
Chief Executive Joan McKinn said: "At Orchardville our [aim] is to help our adults grow and progress in life by boosting their independence and confidence through a range of different services.
"We have 200 people actively involved in our job skills programmes and work with roughly 600 adults across Northern Ireland every year.
"We are very lucky that the communities where we are based have welcomed us and shown us so much support over the years, particularly in our cafes where we might have some customers who come every day for a bite to eat and a lot of that is down to the popularity of our participants and their hardwork.
"Our offer this year is just one way that we are able to give back to them for everything they have done for us and we hope that it will provide some support to them during these difficult times."
If you would like more information regarding Orchardville and the work that it does please visit its website.
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