Dublin City South Volunteer Centre

Case Studies

Sacha Johnston — 2010-07-27T15:05:59Z

In this section you will find case studies about organisations who successfully involve volunteers and the experiences of those who volunteer.

Your Stories...

If you would like to help us by contributing to this section of the website please contact us for more information. If you have a positive, interesting experience as a volunteer or an organisation that works with volunteers then do tell!

Through the magic door

Sacha Johnston — 2010-07-27T15:05:47Z

I have always wanted to volunteer. Three years ago I went to Medjugorie to help re-build a house for single mother for one week. It was a great experience, and I met some really interesting people.

I wanted to volunteer to discover something different from the daily routines we impose upon ourselves with work etc. I wanted to exchange with people, to learn from them as well as give to them, to be able to help anybody no matter how small it might be.

It was an old colleague of mine who told me about Dublin City South Volunteer Centre. I decided to get an appointment and see if there was something I might be interested in and this is how I discovered the small door of Dublin City South Volunteer Centre on Thomas Street, Dublin 8!

The services of the volunteer centre are great and there is loads of information on their website. I registered first and had a look at opportunities that interested me. I picked out the soup run with The Simon Community and the Prison Visitors Centre Work in Mountjoy Prison. After the appointment I decided to pursue the Prison Visitors Centre which is operated through the Society of St. Vincent DePaul and met with Margaret in the Prison Visitors Centre.

I did not know what to expect to be honest...

She invited me to visit the centre, told me the history of it, and informed me of all the rules and regulations that must be followed. I must say it is a special environment and the staff I met on that day made me feel very welcome. The only thing I was worried about was the Garda Vetting because it takes two to three months to be completed. I was worried I might have lost my motivation over such a long wait, but when it came through I was happy to start. It just took a little patience. So I started on Saturday, October 10th 2009 from 2 to 4pm and this would remain my shift every Saturday (except Christmas as they needed more people at that time).

There are 3 areas to help in: the reception of the play area where you register any kids that come in and out of the area and help the parents sign in and play with the kids, the tea bar where you provide free tea and coffee for visitors and the floor where you clean the tables, talk to people, make sure they are ok, answer their questions etc.

Mainly I volunteer in Mountjoy, but I may be asked to go to St. Pat's if it's busy (this is the prison for young offenders). I am now comfortable and confident in my role and enjoy it very much. One aspect I like a lot is that I don't know which area I will be working on and with who so it's flexible from week to week. The staff are really nice and we all get on very well.

Volunteering is rewarding from every aspect. Everybody has a lot of respect for volunteers so try it, do it and you will see!

Jean-Baptiste Bailly

A Walk in the Park

kimboyle — 2010-07-27T15:05:46Z

When my husband and I were transferred to Ireland for his job we thought I would be able to find a job of my own, but the economic downturn was in progress so it made it challenging for me to find a job.

I needed to have a purpose outside the house and wanted to continue building up experience for my CV, therefore I sought out volunteer opportunities in the two areas I was most interested fitness and cookery.

I searched online for volunteer opportunities in the Dublin area and found that there were so many available they broke them down into sections according to the area you live in. This made it easier for me. Once I registered I started applying for positions that matched my interests.

Over the course of a year I volunteered with three organisations. My longest run was through Dublin City Council as a Let's Walk and Talk group leader. I co-lead the Sandymount group on Thursday afternoons. The idea was to help keep the aging in the Dublin community active and social. This was perfect for me since I lived very near to that community and it was the very same philosophy I believed in. It was a brand new group, so I was there from the start and they welcomed me with open arms. Ronan O'Donnell, the DCC organiser who created the groups was available, eager and open to new ideas.

My first task involved creating mapped walks around the area as I wasn't familiar with the local roads. Although I then began leading the walks I never realised how much the people would enrich my life. The average age was roughly 60 and they were all full of life and history.

They taught me so much about the history of Dublin and Ireland in general through their own personal experiences. I not only became friends with them, they became part of my family. I found myself looking forward to meeting up with them each week.

I would even bump into some of them throughout the week and we would end up taking our own little walks, getting to know each other even better. I miss them all very much and still write to them on a regular basis! I even had the chance to meet the Lord Mayor in 2009.

My advice to anyone wanting to volunteer would be to make sure the position you apply for is in a convenient location for you, especially if you'll be using public transport to get there, and that it is something you are truly interested in. I did a few volunteer positions that were fun and interesting, but due to the commute time they started to feel like jobs. Let's Walk and Talk never felt like a job. It felt like a gift!

Emily Mc Carley

It's all Hands on Deck at the Anchorage Project

Sacha Johnston — 2010-07-27T15:05:29Z

The Anchorage Project is a community centre in operation since 1996 from the lovely old Mission Hall on York Road in Ringsend. The services provided include a pre-school playgroup, a children's club and the big space out back is used for growing flowers and breeding rabbits, guinea pigs, budgies, canaries and finches. All of which are then sold on and the profits used to help community development projects in poorer countries overseas.

Activities at the project focus on supporting young people, families, the elderly and children with additional needs. The project has several paid staff but it is largely dependent on volunteers.

At present there is major renovation work taking place; project director Joe Donnelly is managing the development of a new community café. It will be wonderful to be able to sit outside and appreciate the history and architecture of the building, listen to the birds and admire the flowers. The Café will be also be used to stage various events and cultural evenings using music and food to help bring the community closer together. The Anchorage has also received donations of some computers from a local business so it will also have an Internet zone and training resource in the new café.

The Anchorage Project has grown from strength to strength over the years and a key part of this success is because of its approach to volunteers. Since its inception the Anchorage has engaged with an average of 1000 volunteers annually on a multitude of projects and objectives.

Joe Donnelly states, “The number of ways in which any organisation can involve volunteers is literally endless! An organisation that has not yet embraced volunteerism really needs to think about this question and ask themselves why not."

The Anchorage has a longstanding relationship with its local Volunteer Centre, Dublin City South who connects the Anchorage up with volunteers on an ongoing basis.

"When it's a big job such as decorating, gardening or clearing etc Dublin City South Volunteer Centre will connect me up with a local business. Last year for instance a group of volunteers from Yahoo! left a lasting impression completing a quality decorating and gardening job" says Joe.

Joe is taking advantage of local businesses wanting to develop their Corporate Social Responsibility programme through volunteering having also engaged Diageo, KPMG and Coca Cola. In the past Joe also involved the Probation and Welfare Service where he received amazing quality work from a dedicated team of clients who needed to complete community service work.

Joe is emphatic “You must not give volunteers the work that nobody else wants to do!”

“Think of a work project as a gift or present you are giving to a volunteer, volunteers must be treated like gold dust, remember volunteers want to leave a lasting impact, they have needs and expectations that need to be met too.”

The range and diversity of how organisations can involve volunteers is vast. No one organisation has all the skills it needs under its roof. The Anchorage maximizes its potential by tapping into Dublin City Volunteer Centre's local pool of skilled volunteers. Over the years the Anchorage has involved a town planner to help with planning permission applications, a HR manager to help develop policy documentation and best practice for staff, they have also involved fundraisers, gardeners, administrators and a solicitor to advise on legal matters. More recently architects and interior designers are helping to plan and design the layout of the new extension and café and making sure it will be contemporary whilst maintaining the features of a beautiful old building.

At present, a local business, DCOY, is creating a new logo and brand for The Anchorage. Joe comments, “we are really lucky DCOY are top designers and they happen to be based around the corner from us.”

As a by-product Joe also feels that by embracing volunteerism, organisations can to a certain extent “recession proof” themselves. By creating a sustainable business model and extending services through the involvement of volunteers simply demonstrates good business sense regardless of whether funding is secured each year.

And finally comments Joe, “If you have a bad experience with a volunteer thank them profusely anyway, don't ever quench the spirit of volunteerism. Secondly and more importantly if things go wrong it is most likely your fault because you didn't plan properly or you just weren't sufficiently organised."