The Society of St Vincent de Paul is appealing to the public to help it raise funds and awareness during its biggest fundraiser of the year.
Collections at churches around the country this weekend are dedicated to the charity, with thousands of volunteers taking part.
SVP says Christmas is a particularly difficult time of the year, with the organisation receiving almost 1,000 requests to its Dublin office in one day alone last week.
Liam Casey from the society is urging people to dig deep today, saying that Christmas is the time of the year when SVP receives the most requests for assistance.
He explained: "It's make or break for us all this week, and particularly this weekend.
"We're completely dependent on the support of the public... [it] enables us to do what we do as volunteers in the organisation."
He also guaranteed that anybody who needs to contact the organisation for help will be treated in the "most sensitive manner".
