The Society of St Vincent dePaul expects to receive more than 50,000 calls for help in the coming weeks.
It says they are getting the same number of appeals as they did during the recession.
It is also urging people in need of a loan to cover the cost of Christmas to turn to the local credit union for help, rather than a money lender or high interest loan company.
Vice President Kieran Stafford says just one change in their situation can tip a family into poverty: "It could be someone losing their job, it could be someone getting sick in the house, and that is not necessarily the mother or the father or maybe the person who is working, you could have a child who gets sick in the house and it puts enormous pressure, on the family both emotionally and financially."