Dublin City South Volunteer Centre

70% Increase in Volunteering

Sacha Johnston — 2010-08-12T09:06:23Z

Check out the latest report on volunteering and find out who's volunteering and why...

Active Citizenship & Volunteering Week

Sacha Johnston — 2010-08-10T13:23:35Z

Dublin City South Volunteer Centre is running a week of activities to promote and celebrate Active Citizenship and Volunteering. Our fellow volunteer centre in Tallaght is also running an Active Citizenship week in South Dublin County. Together we aim to highlight to the media and the public the importance of civic engagement and volunteering through a number of activities. For more information about the week please click here.

Profile of Volunteers

Sacha Johnston — 2010-07-05T16:19:05Z

New figures released today by Volunteer Centres Ireland (VCI), show that, in the first half of this year, the recession continues to have a huge impact on the numbers of people registering to volunteer. Furthermore the profile of volunteers registering with volunteer centres has changed significantly since the recession.

The new type of volunteer registering with volunteer centres tend to be highly skilled with considerable time on their hands. Volunteer Centres are under pressure to find ‘meatier roles' for volunteers were they can hone their skills and keep busy and active. Dr Yvonne McKenna, CEO of Volunteer Centres Ireland explained that ‘while volunteering cannot help the unemployment problem in Ireland, it does have a proven positive impact on the wellbeing of the unemployed and can help prevent some of the harmful effects of long-term unemployment. To this end, Volunteer Centres Ireland and its members are seeking cross-departmental support to help them meet the needs of the unemployed or under employed volunteers'.

Volunteer centres have seen a massive 72% increase in volunteering since the onslaught of the recession and this shows no sign of dissipating. The figures released today show that ‘recently made redundant' is now one of the top ten reasons people are volunteering, while ‘free time' and ‘to gain work experience' are the second and third most popular reasons to volunteer, respectively. More than half the volunteers who registered as unemployed or recently made redundant were aged under 35, while 70% had never volunteered before.

For more information about the changing profile of volunteers registering with volunteer centres please contact Eva Early on 087 22 22 216 or at eva@volunteer.ie

Survey says...Volunteer!

Sacha Johnston — 2010-07-05T14:23:26Z

According to a public survey conducted by the leadership development group Junior Chamber, ‘signing up with volunteer.ie' is the second most helpful act within a community, topped only by ‘planting flowers in a public area.'

‘Signing up with volunteer.ie' and ‘running a charity event' both recived 16 per cent of the votes for best thing you can do to help a community. Of course, signing up with Volunteer Centres Ireland is only part of the task, one must also be prepared to better the community with a project!

One fantastic opportunity for getting involved with your local Volunteer Centre is to participate in the upcoming National Day of Volunteering on October 1st, 2010. One could easily combine the survey's first and second place helpful acts into one great community building project by organising a flower planting event and registering it on www.volunteer.ie.

Interestingly, the choice to ‘become active in your local policital party' did not recieve a single vote during the survey. ‘I was surprised to see that not one person would consider joining a political party,' said JCI's Mark Kelly.

News

Sacha Johnston — 2010-06-21T12:43:36Z

RTE Looking for Volunteers

kimboyle — 2010-06-03T14:41:09Z

RTE are looking for volunteers to participate in a new TV programme called 'Do the Right Thing'. Click on the link for more information http://www.rte.ie/tv/dotherightthing/

Garda Vetting Seminar

Sacha Johnston — 2010-05-19T12:35:02Z

It is with great pleasure that the five Volunteer Centres in Dublin invite you to attend a seminar on Garda Vetting on May 28th from 10:00am to 13:00 in "The Venue", Dublin City Council, Wood Quay.

This seminar is for both:

Those organisations who already use the Garda Vetting Service being offered by local Volunteer Centres. It represents a great opportunity for you to get up to date information on changes in the system and get answers to any questions you may have.
Those of you who may not use the Garda Vetting process itself and would like more information on how to integrate vetting into your current recruitment and selection procedure

The seminar will cover the following:

Presentation and Q&A with Supt. Pat Burke, Garda Central Vetting Unit
The Vetting Service provided by your local Volunteer Centre
Vetting as part of the Screening process

The event is free of charge and open to any not-for-profit organisation or community group that involves volunteers and is interested in finding out more about the vetting process. To register for the event please RSVP to Tricia Nolan at tricia@volunteersouthdublin.ie.

For further information please contact your local Volunteer Centre.

Kind regards,

Dublin City North Volunteer Centre
Dublin City South Volunteer Centre
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Volunteer Centre
Fingal Volunteer Centre
South Dublin County Volunteer Centre

The Volunteer Times

Sacha Johnston — 2010-04-20T11:23:27Z

Read all about us! Check out the latest edition of the Volunteer Times, Dublin City South Volunteer Centre's newsletter. Read all about the resources available to organisations who involve volunteers and how the Volunteer Centre can help you. You'll also find information on upcoming events and corporate groups who want to volunteer. Click here to view our newsletter on line.

Information Session

Sacha Johnston — 2010-03-29T09:39:12Z

You are invited to attend a Volunteer Information Meeting...

Who: Coolmine Therapeutic Community

Where: DIT Aungier Street, Dublin 2

When: Wednesday 31st March 2010 @ 6.15 pm

What: Coolmine Dublin Bay Cycle

Volunteers interested in helping to organise the Coolmine Dublin Bay Cycle on Sunday 23rd May 2010 are invited to an information evening next Monday 22nd March. This year members of the Dublin Senior Football Team are participating in the event which starts in Bray at 11am and travels along the bay into the city to meet the Lord Mayor and then onwards to Howth to finish at approx 3:30pm.

Help is required in a variety of roles from marshals to street collections, transportation, enrollment of cyclists; media/PR etc.

All are welcome. The meeting will take maximum 1 hour. Please RSVP to Declan @ 086 250 2298/declanarthur@gmail.com to register your interest.

Meet an EVS Volunteer

Sacha Johnston — 2010-03-23T09:44:46Z

Sarah Levecq is a Belgian volunteer in Volunteer Centres Ireland, the national organisation with responsibility for developing volunteering nationally and locally. She is also volunteering in Dublin City South Volunteer Centre as a photographer. Read all about her experience and check out her great photos of Ireland here.