See the rest of the gallery here
Saturday February 12th the European Year of Volunteering 2011 was officially launched in Dublin by Mary McAleese, President of Ireland, Patron of European Year of Volunteering 2011. Over 300 individual volunteers and non profit organisations from all over Ireland came together to celebrate the commitment of up to 1 million active volunteers in Ireland at the event sponsored by Intel Ireland.
Speaking at the event, Elaine Bradley said that as National Coordinating Body for EYV2011, Volunteering Ireland wanted to work with volunteers during the Year to “shine a light on…all the good that happens in this country”.
President McAleese reminded those present of the “essential role” volunteering plays in society, stating that if voluntary activity stopped there would be a “psychological ice-age”. The President said, “That is how essential volunteers are, how critical they are to our civic well-being, our civic resilience and our civic strength.” Watch the President’s speech here.
Northern Ireland Social Development Minister Alex Attwood also attended the launch event and said, “There is a wealth and diversity of volunteering across Ireland. It is part of our national character. It is witnessed in every town and townland, city and county. Volunteers contribute enormously and it’s important to recognise the cross border nature of volunteering with many organisations working on an all island basis”.
Wendy Osbourne, CEO of Volunteer Now and Voluntary Arts Ireland’s Kevin Murphy were also present to illustrate the cross-border nature of the event, and to meet President McAleese.
L-R: Wendy Osborne OBE Volunteer Now NI, Eamonn Sinnott Intel Ireland, President McAleese, Minister Pat Carey, Elaine Bradley Volunteering Ireland, Minister Alex Attwood, Kevin Murphy Voluntary Arts Ireland
The colourful ceremony, sponsored by Intel Ireland, attracted people from all walks of life who came in their droves to celebrate Ireland’s volunteering community. A broad spectrum of volunteer-involving organisations from both Ireland and Northern Ireland were represented on the day. Among the performers were the Forever Young Chorus, RíRá, St Agnes Primary School, Monaghan Song and Poetry Writer’s Group, The Garda Band, Greise Youth Theatre, eLVé Latvian choir and Ballymun Lullaby.
The Order of Malta hosted demonstions in the courtyard, and Scouting Ireland erected a teepee and invited guests to try out the climbing wall. Inside the Baroque Chape, showcasing organisations included Businees in the Community, Carelocal, Community Games , Meath Youth Federation, RNLI, Special Olymipcs Ireland, Volunteer Centres Ireland, Bryson House, Volunteer Now. Intel Ireland also provided information on their well-established corporate responsibility programmes.
Eamonn Sinnott, General Manager, Intel Ireland and Vice President, Technology Manufacturing Group, attended the ceremony and said, “Intel is delighted to be involved as a sponsor of the launch event which celebrates the vital role that volunteering plays in our society, not only because of how it can change the lives of those who we reach through volunteering but in how it enriches the lives of volunteers themselves. At Intel, volunteering is a part of our culture and our employees look forward to playing their part in the European Year of Volunteering”. Intel has a proud tradition of volunteering with employees contributing almost 150,000 hours of volunteer time over the past 3 years.
EYV2011 Ambassadors Marian Harkins MEP, RTE’s Claire Byrne, Dylan Haskins, Senan Connell, Christine Buckley, Anna Hughes and Harry McLaughlin were also in attendance to support the upcoming year. Read about all the EYV 2011 Ambassadors here
The primary aim of EYV2011 is to raise awareness of the impact that volunteering activities have on society. The year is also about empowering people to volunteer by promotion and facilitation and by raising awareness of the value which volunteering inherently provides to communities.