Irish singer Mary Black paid a visit to The People's Kitchen in Belfast before her sold-out show on Thursday night.
The Dublin native has been supporting the Antrim Road based charity at her concerts in the city in recent years, with spaces throughout the venue for fans to donate.
The People's Kitchen began life in 2017 as St Patrick's Soup Kitchen. It was started by SDLP Councillor, Paul McCusker; a long-time advocate for the homeless.
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The charity started off by serving warm drinks and sandwiches from a tea trolley in a doorway, but has since grown to operating seven days a week as the need in the city increased further.
Nowadays, The People's Kitchen doesn't just help the city's homeless, but those who are living in poverty, with these numbers growing due to the cost of living crisis.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Mary Black said she's happy to do all she can to help promote the services available from the charity.
"Over the last few years when I've come to Belfast, I've always had collections for the charity at my concerts. I do feel it's a really worthy cause, there are so many people in need, particularly for food and some shelter," she said.
"I think if I can do anything to help, I'm delighted to do that. But it's lovely to see it now first-hand. When you see it, it changes your attitude even more. You see how hard the volunteers are working, they work seven days a week.
"A lot of the food here is donated but sometimes they need to buy it, and they rely on people to donate to help them keep this place open. When you see it, you realise how much work goes on behind the scenes, and how important it is for the people who need it.
"It seems to be growing, there are more people in need every day, so the more people can help the better."
Volunteer at The People's Kitchen, Damian McNairy, said the support from Mary over the years has been invaluable.
He said: "It's been fantastic to have someone of Mary's stature support us, someone known worldwide as well as throughout the island of Ireland. Mary's been so supportive, she's sent videos and allowed us to collect at the gigs, but to actually have her here in person and hear about the project, and take time to chat to the volunteers, it's such a treat, and she's just such a lovely person as well."
Damian said as the nights get colder and rising costs continue to take their toll, The People's Kitchen continue to face a high demand.
"There are times the queue is just going up the street, right up the Antrim Road. The problem for us and many other charities is that there's an increase in the amount of people needing our services, but because of the cost of living, the people who were donating are no longer in the position to be able to donate," he added.
"There's that double squeeze from both ends - demand is increasing and we're increasingly scrambling around for funds to keep the project going and giving that support to people who need it."
To support The People's Kitchen, you can get in touch and donate through their website here.
Video by Belfast Live videographer Dylan Hegarty.
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