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Heartbreaking image shows boy eating dinner off cardboard

Thousands responded, with both empathy and anger.

An image of a five-year-old homeless boy, eating dinner off a cardboard box on a cold concrete street in Dublin has left netizens shaken.
Thousands responded, with both empathy and anger, to the image posted by The Homeless Street Cafe on October 15 when temperature dipped 4°C overnight. The boy, nicknamed 'Sam', was spotted by a group of volunteers, who patrol Grafton Street in the inner city every Tuesday offering food, toiletries, warm clothing and a kind word to the homeless.
According to reports in Daily Mail, the group came across the boy eating his dinner and decided to share the image. The homeless charity captioned the image: 'We are home after another incredibly busy night. I'm exhausted, weary and emotional and should (guiltily) go to bed BUT there is an image burnt in all the teams' minds tonight. It's wrong and it's distressing but this IS happening and it's only getting worse each week'.
Emphasizing the issue of homelessness in Ireland, the caption further read: 'Sam is five and this was him eating a dinner of carbonara tonight on a sheet of cardboard. Can we really accept this'? Thousands have commented on the post with many wanting to help the child while others expressed gratitude to the charity for its work.

One woman wrote: 'Something needs to be done for any person, or persons living on our streets. It's not acceptable in this day and age when our government had money to spend elsewhere'. While another woman wrote: 'So sad, shame on this country', and another: 'This is so very heartbreaking...what can I do to help'?
Following the viral post, The Homeless Street Cafe gave an update on the boy's situation and said he goes to school and lives in an emergency accommodation along with his mother.