Community spirit is alive and well in Westmeath

By Eoghan Wallace

As the great Martin Luther King Jr once said, “No work is insignificant. All labour that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”
His words could be attributed to the strong community spirit that exists in Westmeath at the moment. There has been a huge upturn in the numbers of people volunteering. For the first six months of this year, over 14,000 volunteer hours have been logged by the people of Westmeath in their communities. That’s double the amount of time that was logged in the first six months of last year.
“We in the volunteer centre are delighted with this incredible increase in the time that everyone has given in the community,” said Ian O’Flynn, manager of the Westmeath Volunteer Centre.
“Since our establishment in 2006 we have now registered over 1,700 people in the Volunteer Centre with over 500 registering in 2012 and 2013.
“Over 320 organisations are now registered with us too and this upswing is testament to them creating opportunities for volunteers and also the commitment that volunteers are prepared to give.”
Two such people from Westmeath who give a little something back to the community are Barry Walsh and Mary Reid.
Barry has been volunteering for three years, around the same time he became unemployed.
“When I lost my job I said to myself I’m not going to sit at home doing nothing and I was on Facebook one day and I came across the Westmeath Volunteer Centre and I said ‘that’s something I could do’, because if you sit at home all it’s going to lead to is depression.”
After making the decision, Barry contacted the Westmeath Volunteer Centre. He decided to give the Care and Repair a go but despite enjoying his time there Barry felt he could be doing even more. The next initiative he got involved with was the RDAI, the Riding for the Disabled programme: “I do that every Monday morning. When you see a child’s face, that’s what inspires you.”
Barry now spends his week volunteering, with a seven day schedule. “On Monday I do the horse riding, Tuesdays I do bingo calling in the nursing home. On Wednesdays I don’t really do much but I could have Care and Repair jobs that day as well. Thursdays I’m in Oxfam and Fridays as well. Saturdays and Sundays I’m in the nursing home again.”
Mary has also been unemployed for a number of years but has decided to give something back to the community. “I started with the Adult Literacy programme and I’ve been doing that for five or six years. I started that when I was living in Dublin and then when I moved back here I continued it with the VEC. I had the time and I had the ability to do it because I thought I’ve done a bit of writing myself and done a bit of editing. I love reading, I couldn’t imagine life without it. I couldn’t imagine how people could survive without being able to fill in a simple form and things like that.”
Mary’s inspiration for getting involved actually sprung from an car accident, after which she benefited from the help of volunteers. “I was involved in a car accident a few years ago so I wasn’t able to drive at all. I live out in the country so I wasn’t able to get to physiotherapy. So that was my first contact with the Volunteer Centre. I was speaking to Ian and he organised a few people to help me to the physio. So I thought ‘OK, I had the time and I wanted to do something at that time to return the favour’.”
Mary also volunteers with the Riding for the Disabled programme as well as the Midlands Dyspraxia group. Mary’s biggest passion however is working with Helium Arts. “At the minute I’m doing some work with Helium Arts. They’re a local charity here, based out in Ballinea. I’m doing some work on Facebook for them.”
“They provide arts and entertainment for kids and teenagers in hospital. They’re setting up a new scheme here in the midlands. They have a couple of projects on the run. One of them is they’ve got a couple of artists in who go into the hospital. They go in, they tell stories or make portraits of the kids. Anything to amuse them, get them to forget they’re in hospital for a while, something to give them a lift.”
Barry feels that all the hours he has clocked have been of enormous personal benefit. “I’ve definitely benefited. You get a great feeling of self-satisfaction when you’re out there doing something. The Westmeath Volunteer Centre is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I’ve never been happier.”
Mary loves the social aspect of volunteering as well as finding out about some of the great initiatives around the country, “You get to know people, you get to know about different things. I didn’t know what dyspraxia was before I started doing the Riding for the Disabled. I didn’t know anything about Helium Arts either, I didn’t even know there were such projects in Ireland.”
She would encourage anyone considering volunteering to do it: “It’s a really good thing to do. It’s good fun and you only do what you want to do. But if it doesn’t work out, or a couple of weeks down the line you can always say ‘sorry, it’s not what I thought’. But if it works out well; great for everybody.”
“It’s a personal choice. It’s not a thing you can be forced into. I find the Westmeath Volunteer Centre is a lifesaver for a lot of people. They’re getting people out there,” Barry adds. “If you wanted to get involved with volunteering you can do an hour a week, you can do 20 hours a week, you can do 50 hours a week, it’s entirely up to yourself.”