CAMPAIGNS

GIVE IT A SWIRL DAY

Ireland’s first national day of volunteering took place in September 2007. Inspired by our logo and because the purpose of the day is to invite people to give volunteering a go, we named the national day of volunteering Give It A Swirl Day. In conjunction with our member Volunteer Centres, VCI encourages not-for-profit organisations to devise hands-on, once-off volunteering projects and invites the public to get involved. In its first year, Give It A Swirl Day achieved the following:

• 838 individuals participated
• 297 were youth volunteers (aged under 18)
• 68 projects took place in 60 organisations across 14 counties
• 2,583 hours of volunteering hours were generated

Give It A Swirl Day will be an annual event and this year (2008), it will take place on Friday, 26th September. We’re looking forward to building on the success of last year to make it an even bigger and better event. The following are the media contacts for the regional volunteer centres:

Centre	Name	Email
Carlow	Fiona	fiona@volunteercarlow.ie
Cork	Bernie	bernie@volunteercork.ie
Donegal	Sandra	sandra@volunteerdonegal.ie
Drogheda	Róisín	roisin@volunteerdrogheda.ie
Dun LaoghaireRathdown	Karen	karen@volunteerdlr.ie
Dublin City South	Sacha	sacha@volunteerdublin.ie
Fingal	Laetitia	info@volunteerfingal.ie
Kerry	Linda	lmccarthy@volunteerkerry.ie
Kildare	Michelle	michelle@volunteerkildare.ie
Longford	Karen	volunteering@lcrl.ie
Mayo	Edel	edel@volunteer.ie
Galway	Ruth	ruth@volunteergalway.ie
Sligo	Paula	paula@volunteersligo.ie
South Dublin County	Colette	colette@volunteersouthdublin.ie
South Tipperary	Hilery	hilery@volunteersouthtipperary.ie
VCI	Eva	eva@volunteer.ie
Westmeath	Bernadette	boshea@westcd.ie
Wicklow	Leah	leah@volunteerwicklow.ie

NON-IRISH NATIONAL VOLUNTEER RECRUITMENT CAMPAIGN

Research undertaken by Volunteer Centres Ireland shows that there has been a considerable increase in the number of non-Irish nationals registering to volunteer through volunteer centres in 2008. In response, the national volunteer body initiated a wholly online national recruitment campaign in an effort to maintain the momentum and to maximise the potential of volunteers within this demographic.

To increase awareness of VCI and the services of local volunteer centres across Ireland, VCI selected three representatives from non-Irish national communities who are currently volunteering in Ireland. They identified the feel-good story these volunteers had to share of their experiences volunteering and published them on the VCI website, Facebook & bebo pages.

The reaction to the story was very positive, both from local and national media and also from the target demographic. VCI hopes to substantially contribute to integrating cultures in Irish communities.

You can view case studies and press release from this campaign at www.volunteer.ie or www.facebook.com/volunteercentresireland or www.bebo.com/volunteercentresireland

 

Need to know more?

Please contact Eva Early at 01 7994519 or eva@volunteer.ie or Arlene Crean at 01 640 1821 or Arlene@hmpr.ie or alternatively please contact the specific regional centre as outlined below.