Goodwill to all men, women and children was shown on Christmas Day in Enniskillen as volunteers from Fermanagh and further afield helped the owners of Route 66 Diner provide Christmas dinner and gifts to lonely and vulnerable members of the local community.

Donna Rasdale and Mark Smith opened the doors of their restaurant on December 25 and with the help of 54 volunteers, they created a Christmas Day experience for a number of guests onsite, whilst also reaching out to the local community by delivering Christmas dinners and gifts to the homes of those in need, serving 92 meals in total over the course of the day.

Commenting on the success of the day and the messages of gratitude that had been sent from guests who “really enjoyed being there,” Donna also noted that she had received a number of messages from the volunteers.

She told The Impartial Reporter: “We’ve had messages from them saying how rewarding they felt it was. I think a lot of it was the shock, that it was needed so badly in the community.”

Speaking on behalf of herself and Mark, Donna said: “We just did what we could and we couldn’t have done it without the support of the community.

“The community were amazing and they all came together. Anybody that I ever asked anything of, it was never an issue.The volunteers were queuing out the door at one stage to come and help us, which was brilliant. Everybody wanted to do something,” she said.