With Ireland at the top of the charts when it comes to volunteering, groups around the world are now looking to The Cork Volunteer Centre and the overarching body, Volunteer Ireland, to discover how and why people in Ireland are so good at giving of their time and skills to benefit others.
Niamh O’Donovan finds out why Cork people in particular have a lot to be proud of when it comes to helping out their neighbours.
Cork Volunteer Centre works with groups in the community to best attract and manage volunteers while helping individuals find placements to put their education, knowledge and skills to work in aiding others, and themselves.
Amandine Le Brun has volunteered across the gamut of festivals and events in Cork City, including Culture Night, various community gardens and Cork Carnival of Science. Based on her experience she says “I’ve been volunteering for many years to connect with and give back to the Cork community I love. It’s given me the chance to make great friends and feel even more at home here.”
According to the Central Statistics Office 2022 Census, 14 per cent of people over the age of 15 volunteer regularly in Ireland and, at 16 per cent, Cork has one of the highest levels of volunteering in the country.
For many people, acts of kindness, without the expectation of anything in return, are a habit, a part of their daily routine. The Cork Volunteer Centre regard this as, ‘informal volunteering’, compared to their remit which is, ‘formal volunteering’.
Outreach and Placement Officer at Cork Volunteer Centre, Gosia Waldowska, shares how many people in Ireland don’t even realise they’re volunteering but are still making a difference. How many people have and continue to contribute, whether it was visiting an isolated, elderly neighbour during Covid, someone they still visit to this day, or making teas and coffees for parents after a children’s sports event. If you take this type of helping into account, the kind most don’t even give a second thought to, it’s clear there are more people volunteering in Ireland than the official census statistics could ever record.
Within formal voluntary efforts there are a lot of ways people can help out and the Cork Volunteer Centre has been working hard to facilitate people’s desire to contribute in a more structured manner. The options often include a weekly, fortnightly or monthly volunteering role, from tele-volunteering, such as via video conferencing apps where workshops or tutoring sessions are given remotely, to speaking to isolated and lonely people or the elderly, via telephone; or being part of a trained team that responds to once-off events requiring a volunteer for one shift. This type of volunteering may suit anyone who has a hectic or changeable schedule, for example offering occasional help towards a town festival, celebration or cultural awareness day.
According to Gosia, the range of roles available in Cork and around the country, including those available remotely, provides an opportunity for anyone, no matter their ability or availability, to engage in volunteering. These roles include positions with help and support lines such as with Alone and Aware which, according to the Volunteer Centre, are very popular. “Different types of workshops (which) can be art, cooking, yoga, different types of tutors, maths tutors, Irish tutors … (tutoring) kids, schools, people with intellectual disabilities … content creators, graphic designers, social media support … different DIY projects you can complete at home…” The list is nigh on endless.
Gosia recommends checking the website regularly as roles appear, and are filled, sometimes, very quickly. She says there are even opportunities for people, especially retired educators and professionals in West Cork, to volunteer as board members for organisations across Cork County. With a lot of board meetings now taking place online, it’s possible to help without lengthy travel or burning fossil fuels.
Key to the Cork Volunteer Centre, and part of the reason they’re focusing on West Cork in September, is formal and informal volunteering effectively working together. Gosia explains how they complement each other “because informal types of volunteering provide a lot of information about local needs and local opportunities, which formal volunteering then can support with structure, recruitment, management, funding, insurance… and even by providing the space.”
With informal volunteers being seen as a ‘rapid response’ to issues, often showing what’s most needed in an area, the Volunteer Centre steps in once these groups, with help from organisations such as the Social Enterprise Offices, among others, are formed into official bodies or, when existing bodies adapt and move into an area. Funding and resources often only become available at the stage a fully-fledged organisation is operating somewhere. “We support formal groups because we want to ensure we are sending volunteers and referring them to a safe space where they are going to be managed in an appropriate way, and where they are going to be insured…”
Talking about the connection found with Cork Volunteer Centre’s help and placements, Happy Agbaragu says “I was inspired by the chance for integration, meeting new people, and committing to the Cork community. I wanted to give (and) contribute in a way that connects me more deeply with others here.”
Whether you’re finding others with a similarly caring and compassionate mindset in your locality, helping your neighbour while he’s sick or remotely teaching an art class to elderly people, volunteering is an activity that can benefit everyone involved, providing opportunities for individuals to form ties with others, ultimately creating and strengthening connections and wellbeing in communities.
If you want to know more, The Cork Volunteer Centre are putting particular focus on West Cork this September, with events organised in the Beara West Resource Centre on the September 25, in Schull Library, also on September 25, and in Bantry Library on September 26, with hopes for more pop-up centres in the future.
You can find out all about the events and registering to volunteer on the Cork Volunteer Website www.volunteercork.ie. And if you have any questions there are two placement officers with the Centre who are happy to talk with you on a video call or on the phone.
