Having been back in Ireland after my year away, I was thinking it might be nice to try and continue doing some volunteer work, but this time at home. I had heard a lot about the St Vincent de Paul, and all the good work they do around the country. As a result I decided why not give it a try and see if I can help out in some way.
A few weeks ago I went along to an open day, where they were recruiting for new volunteers. A number of the different groups around Dublin were in, telling about the work they do. It was very interesting hearing their stories and what they do. After this meeting I felt, yes, this is something I can do, and would love to give some of my time to. As a result of this, I talked with one of the group leaders and signed up for a group based not to far from where I live.
I guess for any of you who do not know about St Vincent de Paul, I should give a little summary, this is taken from their website (http://www.svp.ie)
“The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a direct service non-profit organisation whose work primarily involves person-to-person contact with people who have a variety of needs. In addition to direct assistance, we try to promote self-sufficiency, enabling people to help themselves. Any assistance offered by the Society is given in a non-judgemental spirit of compassion, based on the need of the individual or family.”
Every Tuesday from 7 to about 10 PM we meet and help out where possible. The first hour is a discussion on the people we visited the previous week, and to look at new requests that have come in looking for assistance. Once this is done, we divide into groups of 2 and go around and visit a number of people. Sometimes it is just people like someone to talk to, other times it may be helping out with vouchers for food, clothes or maybe help with some bills.
For me, it has been a great few weeks so far, the people I work with are all very friendly, and the people I have met going out visiting have all been very welcoming. I guess it shows how even living in Dublin for over 10 years, there is a whole part of society and their problems I never experienced. Sure, I was aware of them, but seeing it first hand, and some of the stories people have had to cope with, does highlight there is a lot of help still needed. With the recession in Ireland, people who previously never were in financial trouble now have a whole new world of problems to deal with. I am starting to see lot of the good work the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) does for people.
