St. John Ambulance Brigade of Ireland

Catherine sent in this information about a local voluntary organisation which also happens to be a national and international organisation. 

NAME: St. John Ambulance Brigade of Ireland

SITUATED: Ireland

CONTACT DETAILS: 29 Upper Leeson Street, Dublin 4

Number - 01 668 8077

WHAT DOES IT DO?: St. John Ambulance runs a one day refresher course where students can up their skills and practice in a relaxed and comfortable environment. Experienced instructors will guide students and offer peer support.

HOW ORGANISED?: St. John Ambulance is at the forefront of providing first aid and training services. Their members are all unpaid volunteers. They think that everyone should have immediate access to

first aid no matter where they are or what they are doing.

BENEFITS FOR CELBRIDGE?: A basic first aid course can help anyone make a difference between a life saved.

MOTIVATION?: St. John Ambulance welcomes new volunteers and look for bright and enthusiastic people to join their organisation. They provide a full range of internal courses to members. 

SUCCESS: As an approved organisation, St. John Ambulance work with the appropriate event organisers, statuory agencies and other organisations to provide first aid cover to the public gatherings.

FUNDING: St John Ambulance is a ‘user pays' organisation and gets funds through providing ambulance services  and first aid training. Additional funding is provided by the Department of Health and through grants from supporters. 

As a not-for-profit organisation, all funds go back into caring for the community, to purchase new equipment, to train personnel and to keep ambulances on the road.

 Funding also comes from running first aid courses such as these below.

Occupational First Aid Course - €300

Community First Aid Course - €100

OFA Fetac Level 5 Refreshner - €140

Find more information about the St John Ambulance Brigade of Ireland at their website  http://stjohn.ie/

Celbridge Youth Café

5th Year LCVP used their planning, team and organisational skills when we invited a speaker to visit both LCVP classes. Thanks to Darren Shanahan for visiting our LCVP class yesterday. He gave us a great talk on Celbridge Youth Cafe and his experiences as a volunteer. Below is Darren's presentation.






Thanks to the 5th Year LCVP class for organising the visit.

Celbridge Amenity Group.

Alisha sent in this report on Celbridge Amenity Group.

Celbridge Amenity Group

The Celbridge Amenity Group was formed several years ago when there was a lot of discussion in the county and country about developing playgrounds in communities around Ireland. There were some communities who already had playgrounds, Dublin 6, Lucan, Dunlaoire, etc.But some also did not including Lexlip,Celbridge and Maynooth.

They met to help the Kildare County Council Parks and Recreation Department. The Kildare County Council wanted local advice from residents of each community regarding detailed location and features of a new playground (fencing, equipment, access, lighting, etc).The group would meet in local pubs for their discussions, but would not drink alcohol at these meetings!

They would advertise in the local newspapers, that they wanted people to join in forming a committee.

They would meet once per fortnight, and elected officers to serve as chairperson, and secretary.

They  had a team of about 8 people which included:

·         Pat Byrne (from Pat Byrne Family Butchers),

·         Bill Eiffe, from Insight Theatre Company

·         Sharon MacDonogh, Eircom

·         Roger Murphy, Celbridge Town Football Club

Some of these were interested in a playground and others where interested in a new community theatre facility.

 

The group contacted the Geography Department of NUIM , who designed and conducted a student –run door-to-door survey to ask local residents what they wanted for the community

They did not have or need money. The Kildare County Council had a budget for building the playground, which covered it.

They kept meeting and stayed together as the Celbridge Amenity Group until the playground was built even though they didn’t just help Celbridge but other communities too. The playground was built on the Kildare County Council open green area near Aghards School and is still there today.

Then they stopped meeting and went back to their normal lives.

A spokesman for the group said he could imagine reforming if the Kildare County Council or someone wanted to build a new playground or new amenity in the council.

Contact Details for one of the members:
Vic Murphy Tel:016270783/0878197031
Email:vmurphy@hp.com

Thanks Alisha.

Saint Raphael's

Thanks to Emma for this report on St Raphael's centre in Celbridge.

Saint Raphael's 
St. Raphael's John of Gods Celbridge provides a network of day educational, residential and respite service to almost 400 children and adults with an intellectual disability. Each year up to 3,000 individuals receive support through services operated by over 2,000 staff and volunteers.

Ireland is part of the West European Province of Saint John of Gods witch includes Great Britain, New Jersey and Malawi Central Africa the Province is overseen by the Provincial, Brother Laurence Kerns.

St. Raphael's John of Gods contributes to the Celbridge community as it takes in children and adults that have down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities and teaches them everything a child in mainstream school or an adult in ever day life would learn in a way in witch the child or adult can learn and grasp at there own speed.

You can contact St. Raphael's John of Gods by 
(a) Telephone: 35316288161 
(b) Fax: 35316273614 or 
(c) E-mail: admin.kildare@sjog.ie

St. Raphael's is a twenty four hour service for people of the Celbridge, Maynooth, Lucan, Liexlip, North Kildare and West Dublin area with intellectual disabilities.

St Raphael's get their funding from local people giving donations when their fundraising team consisting of Sean Archblod, John Kane, John Mc Guirk , John O' Grady, Paul Bane, Barry Mc Cormack, Stuart Brennan, Tom Jordan Tom Muarry and Leslie Deanne set up a collection like bag packing or door to door collection along with all the volunteers that help St. Raphael's with their fundraising.

Find out more here 

Celbridge GAA

Eleana sent in this profile on a local voluntary organisation - Celbridge GAA Club.

Thanks Eleana

Celbridge Voluntary Organisations

5th LCVP class compiled a list of voluntary organisations in Celbridge today. Catherine submitted this list to the blog. Thanks Catherine. 

Celbridge Youth Cafe

St. Raphael's 

Credit Union

St. Vincent De Paul

Ms. Quinns Charity Shop

Celbridge Tidy Towns

St. Johns Ambulance

Order Of Malta

Bethany Bereavement Support Group

Liz McDonnell Run

Swim a Mile

Nursing Home Volunteers

Meals On Wheels

Give Blood Foundation

Scouts / Girl Guides

The Bridge Project

GAA

Foroige 

No Name Club  

Can anyone add to the list? Use the Comment box below to add your suggestions.

Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind

Blaithin sent in the following report about a voluntary organisation.

Name of Organisation:  Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind

 What services does the organisation provide?

They offer a comprehensive suite of services which enable both blind and vision impaired people and families of children with autism to achieve increased independence and an improved quality of life.

Who benefits from the organisation?

Blind and vision impaired people and families of children with autism

How is the organisation financed?  

85% of their income comes from fundraising and voluntary donations. 15% is provided through statutory bodies and government agencies. It costs over €4 million to run every year.

Is it run by volunteers/staff? What are their roles? 

The organisation is run by volunteers of all ages. They help in the breeding and raising of puppies right through to raising the funds in order to provide the services for people who are blind or vision impaired and for families of a child with autism.

How successful is the organisation?

The Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind has been very successful over the last 35 years. They breed all of their own dogs, working closely with the volunteer breeding stock holders to ensure the most successful outcomes. The guide dogs encourage an active social life, improve fitness and health, provide assistance in locating destinations and offers great companionship to the owners.

What does the day-to-day running of the organisation involve?

There are many stages involved in the training of dogs. Some of these include: preparation for puppy walking (at 6-8 weeks), puppy walking (at 8 weeks), early training (at 12 months for 3-5 months) , advanced training (at 16-18 months of age for 3 months) , matching and qualifying (at 2 years of age).

What is the organisation’s role in the community?

The Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind help people who are blind or visually impaired and the families of children with autism to achieve improved mobility and independence. The guide dogs help blind and visually impaired people by enhancing work opportunities, encourages an active social life, improves health and fitness, assists in location destinations and offers great companionship. The guide dogs help children with autism by improving participation in social activities, improving communication skills, and improves confidence and independence.

http://www.guidedogs.ie/iopen24/

Here's the link to find out how you can help http://www.guidedogs.ie/iopen24/-t-33.html