Three of our Trainees recently took time out of the office to help out with a local Dublin charity, St Michael’s House, to help in sprucing up the garden in one of their assisted living centres in Churchtown, County Dublin. With their buckets, spades and a whole heap of enthusiasm, Karl, Declan and Una gave a facelift to the garden by painting the walls and shed, replanting flowers and weeding.
About the Charity:
St Michael’s house is an organisation that provides assisted living services and supports for people with intellectual disabilities living in the greater Dublin and Meath area. They have 170 centres across Dublin where they provide support, structure and guidance to over 1,751 children and adults with intellectual disabilities. Through assisted living centres, staff support and structured services and events, they help improve the lives of huge numbers of individuals, all while blending seamlessly into the community, and allowing their service users to live as normal a life as possible.
The Trainee’s Story:
When we arrived at the Churchtown centre we were greeted by Jacqui, the fundraising executive for St Michael’s House and Mayra the centre manager. Both were extremely kind and welcoming and told us a little bit about the centre and how St Michael’s House works. We met some of the service users and learned about their day to day lives and how St. Michael’s house helps them and their families. We learned about the house that they live in, which looks like any other house in a housing estate, but which has been adapted to suit the individual needs of the service users. It was amazing to see the resources that had been put in place for the people living there, all while allowing them to maintain their independence and individuality. It was equally impressive to see the dedication and hard work of the staff, whose positive attitude and hard work had us in awe throughout the day. We spent a very enjoyable and sunny morning, painting, planting and weeding the back garden of the centre. We got to chat with the residents and see them go about their day to day business; whether that was going to work in one of the day centres set up by St. Michael’s, or enjoying a day off around the house. By evening we had done trojan work and even found time to plant a tree in our memory! We were delighted that we had made such a visible impact in such a short space of time and the residents and staff of the centre were very grateful for the contribution we made to their space.
Getting involved:
We would encourage anyone who wants to make a positive impact in their local community to contact St. Michael’s house to see if they can help them out. They are always grateful for any donations, big or small, whether that’s giving your time to volunteer or running a marathon in aid of them. If you want to get involved you can contact the fundraising team at fundraising@smh.ie or learn more about them in their corporate volunteering video or on their website.
