These are some of the impossible choices St Vincent de Paul in Cork say many families will face this Christmas.
The charity admits that this year has been one of the most difficult in the Society's 176 year history
SVP say they're depending on the generosity of Cork people to get them through as the demand for the charity's service has significantly increased since the pandemic hit.
There were 112,000 requests for help on a national basis up to November, and this is expected to exceed 160,000 with Christmas approaching .
Speaking to RedFM News Regional Vice President of SVP Paddy O'Flynn says while Covid 19 has hampered their fundraising efforts they're trying their best to make sure not one goes without this Christmas
"The demand at the moment is unprecedented. The number of calls for help in here, I think yesterday about about 180 calls for help yesterday so we have a situation where we have two vital elements going in the wrong direction one is our fundraising is down, and our requests for help, are very significantly up, and we're trying to bridge that gap. We're asking our beloved donors in Cork city - our very generous donors to compensate for that this year - by providing us with some cash donations, which is a hard ask in these times, but the Cork people have never let us down before".
