People across Westmeath are being encouraged to get involved in the National Day of Volunteering which takes place on Friday September 30.
On September 26, the Westmeath Volunteer Centre is hosting a Volunteer Gala Night, celebrating the contribution to communities that volunteers give day in, day out. The entry fee for the public is only €10 but all registered volunteers will be free. A number of excellent live bands will be performing on the night and great fun will be had by all in the Annebrook House Hotel Mullingar.
All proceeds from the evening will go to Fionn’s Funds to help Iris and Robert Aherne raise €30,000 to get their son Fionn much needed treatment for West Syndrome, which causes him to experience up to 100 seizures a day. For more information see https://sites.google.com/site/fionnsfund/.
To celebrate the contribution that volunteers make to our communities, Athlone are joining in the national Flagship project ‘Stick to your Knitting’. The knit-a-thon will see hundreds of knitters across the country attempt to break the world record for the most number of people knitting simultaneously. At 11.30am on Friday September 30, groups of knitters will be knitting away in St Kieran’s Community Centre and enjoying the craic!
This year’s event marks the fifth annual National Day of Volunteering and is being supported by Pfizer, Irish Rail, and the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. 2011 is also the European Year of Volunteering.
Last year more than 8,000 volunteers participated in hundreds of charity and community projects across the country. Research carried out by Volunteer Ireland in advance of the National Day of Volunteering has found that being affected by the economic downturn makes people more likely to volunteer.
For further information on the Westmeath events or on the National Day of Volunteering, please contact Ian O’Flynn on (086 ) 1743470 email [email protected], or contact Bernadette O’Shea on (086 ) 0433985 or email [email protected].
