Case Studies

Carlow

Amongst its many activities, St Catherine's Community Services Centre in Carlow provides ‘second chance’ education courses to adults. St Catherine's noticed that some of the participants had literacy difficulties, affecting their ability to complete the course. Carlow Volunteer Centre recruited volunteer literacy tutors for St Catherine’s and also provided resources for the volunteers' training – so that they were fully skilled in teaching literacy skills.  The volunteers are now available to support people doing the courses and help them with the skills they need to complete assignments. St Catherine's have reported that they are delighted to be able to offer this additional support to their clients.

Drogheda

This year Drogheda Volunteer Centre was delighted to work closely with the Irish Heart Foundation and their Happy Heart weekend appeal. The Centre decided to put its focus on sourcing young people to volunteer for the appeal. Local schools and the VEC were contacted and the response was tremendous. The common myth that young people are not interested in helping in the community was quickly dispelled as, throughout the town, teams of 16- to 18-year-olds gave up their own time to volunteer and help raise much needed funds. With so many negative stories about young people in the media – speeding on the roads, binge drinking, engaging in anti-social behaviour – the experience of the Drogheda Volunteer Centre is quite the opposite: young people want to get involved and volunteer. Sometimes, they just need to be asked.

Dublin City South

The information technology department of the Bank of Scotland got in touch with the Dublin City South Volunteer Centre, looking for volunteering opportunities. The Centre already worked closely with Age Action Ireland and immediately thought an interesting match could be made. Soon after, staff from Bank of Scotland began teaching basic information technology skills to senior citizens living in sheltered housing in Ballyfermot. The skills they are learning are helping the older people to stay connected with family living elsewhere – as well as helping them remain independent. Another great aspect of the story is that it was the employees of Bank of Scotland themselves who initiated the search.

Fingal

The majority of people registering with the Fingal Volunteer Centre have never volunteered before. The Centre helps them to find out about volunteering, get information on available volunteering opportunities, and do so without having to make a commitment first. Often, however, people who wish to volunteer for the first time are interested in talking with current volunteers before getting involved: it helps them take their final decision. Thus, the Fingal Volunteer Centre has added a new section to its website with testimonies of volunteers. Through the website, people can share their experience as volunteers and send the recommendations to new volunteers.

Galway

Galway Volunteer Centre more than trebled the number of individuals registering to volunteer in the first four months of 2008. From January to the end of April 2008, 241 people registered with the centre, compared to 74 in the same period in 2007.  The Centre has also increased the number of vacancies advertised from 48 to 71.  Like other Volunteer Centres, the Galway Volunteer Centre is addressing a large gap in the non-profit sector in Ireland. ‘It’s often said that it is getting harder and harder to get volunteers,’ said Donncha Foley, Development Manager, ‘However, our rapid growth and feedback from volunteers shows that this was because it was difficult to actually find suitable volunteer work, and people didn't know where to start.  We make it easy for people to volunteer, and we have potential active citizens coming out of the woodwork!’  In fact, one of the challenges facing the Centre according to Donncha, is finding enough vacancies for all the people who want to volunteer!

Kerry

The Kerry Volunteer Centre takes pride in its role as the enabler of acts of community, kindness and citizenship. It is especially proud of its innovative work with families affected by autism in Kerry and is excited about developing on this work in the coming years.  There are circa 250 families in Kerry with autism.  KVC is currently working with 10 of these families throughout Kerry, with individuals ranging in age from 3 years to 28 years old. The Centre has sourced volunteers to work either directly with the child or adult with autism, or their sibling.  Working with families affected by autism, the Kerry Volunteer Centre has developed volunteering opportunities specifically to meet their needs. The Centre has also assisted families in recruiting volunteers, advised them on selection processes and screening tools and supported families to involve and manage volunteers. The Centre also provides assistance and support to volunteers, ensuring a positive experience for them also.

Mayo

The North Mayo Volunteer Centre ran a young active citizenship art challenge through the local primary schools. The target group was nine to thirteen year olds and the theme of the competition was the children's understanding of what it means to be an active citizen within their own community. The Centre asked the children to tell a story of volunteering through a piece of artwork and is the second year the competition has run. Response to the competition has been phenomenal. From over 500 entries received, fifty went to the finals and their work was displayed at the local library for one week before the awards ceremony at the end of May. The Centre also secured sponsorship for the event from a local Ballina beverage company.

Sligo

Sligo Volunteer Centre received many requests from parents of young people with special needs looking for volunteer ‘buddies’ for their son or daughter to socialise and get engaged in mainstream activities. Colleagues in Fermanagh Volunteer Centre were already running a ‘buddy’ group and the Sligo Volunteer Centre decided there was nothing to stop them doing a similar project. The Centre contacted local volunteers who had expressed an interest in working with the target group and invited them to come along to an introduction day to meet with young people with special needs. Jointly with Fermanagh, they also organised a Pottery Painting Day. Three local volunteers were ‘buddied’ with young people with special needs. These relationships are ongoing and include swimming, cooking and other activities. The difference this makes to the young people cannot be underestimated and it provides respite for parents too. The Centre are encouraged and energised by the positive impact that such projects can have on people’s lives and hope to make many more positive connections into the future.

Westmeath

Capmark is a multinational company providing financial services to investors in commercial real estate-related assets in North America, Europe and Asia. Over one weekend (from 28th April to 2nd May 2008) Capmark supported its employees in all locations to volunteer. Capmark Ireland is based in Mulligar, with 60 employees. The Westmeath Volunteer Centre organised three projects for Capmark: cleaning up the riverbed in Rochfortbridge in conjunction with tidy towns; painting a community centre in Whitehall; and painting the 1428 Active Retirement Centre in Mullingar town. Capmark employees said they were delighted to have an opportunity to get involved in their community and get to know more about it.

Wicklow

Of the many people who have contacted the County Wicklow Volunteer Centre wanting to volunteer, many seem unaware of the skills, talents and wealth of experience they have to offer. Over a cup of tea or coffee and an informal chat, the Centre finds that people who have labelled themselves as ‘unemployed’, ‘uneducated’, ‘disabled’ or ‘really not much good at anything’ are, in fact, people with management skills, people skills, empathy, sports skills and a range of other abilities – skills essential to the functioning of voluntary and community groups and cohesive communities.  Volunteering gives individuals the opportunity to explore their own unique talents and contribute to the wellbeing of the community in which they live. Take the woman who moved to the area and felt isolated, her family grown up, her husband at work and, according to herself, ‘just a housewife’. This woman is currently volunteering with three separate organisations, using her childrearing, housekeeping and general management skills to the great benefit of a large portion of the community.

Longford

The Longford Volunteer Centre is actively involved with Longford’s Friendly Call Service, a new and free service for people in Co. Longford aged 55 years and above. The project is the result of collaboration between Longford Community Resources in consultation with the Older Persons Network, Midland HSE Public Health Nurses and other community organisations and involves friendly telephone calls being made to the target, by volunteers from the target group too. Calls provide interaction, information on local events and the chance for a good old-fashioned chat! Longford Volunteer Centre has referred many volunteers on to the initiative, provides training to volunteers and actively recruits for the project also. While all volunteers are welcome it is hoped that this service will be led by and for older people in the County.

South Dublin County Volunteer Centre

Whilst delivering training on volunteer management to volunteer-involving organisations, South Dublin County Volunteer Centre constantly encountered questions on the intricacies of screening volunteers and the barriers to involving volunteers because small groups were unable to access Garda Vetting for volunteers. SDCVC pro-actively approached the central Garda Vetting unit about this issue and, in discussions with Inspector Pat Burke, it was felt that the Centre might be ideally placed to act as a centralised Garda Vetting agent for voluntary organisations in their geographical remit. SDCVC piloted this service during summer 2007 and have continued to provide the service since. To date, they have acted as an authorised signatory for over 20 organisations (both local and national) and have processed over 300 vetting applications. Following the success of the pilot, this service is now being rolled out in Volunteer Centres across the country with the result that all small voluntary organisations in Ireland will be able to access Garda Vetting through their local volunteer centre.