Louth Volunteer Centre are delighted to be part of a committee of local organisations who are promoting #16DaysofActivism against Gender Based Violence, an international campaign fronted by the UN. The campaign was launched on the 25^th November by the Mayor of Drogheda with presentations by guest speakers Sean Cooke of Men’s Development Network and Susan Keogh of Drogheda Women’s and Children’s Refuge.

Organisations involved in this campaign include the Drogheda branch of Soroptomists International, Hands4Unity, Connect Family Resource Centre, and Louth LEADER Partnership. The groups have been successful in getting Millmount Tower lit up in Orange to mark the campaign. They are hosting a series of events across the 16 days and are calling on volunteers and members of the public to educate themselves on gender based violence and to advocate for and raise awareness about this issue. The majority of participants in the campaign are volunteers and we are delighted to support both the campaign and the participants.

Hattie originally started off with SOSAD as a volunteer in Drogheda, where she took up role as admin suicide intervention officer and support worker. She is now the Volunteer Coordinator in SOSAD’s Dundalk office.

“Hattie makes volunteering in SOSAD a joy she makes the service open for anybody to volunteer no matter what their skill sets are …. She’s a complete diamond and the place would be lost without her creativity and hard work. She’s really kept the place ticking away in these crazy times.”, according to the person that nominated her.

On leading volunteers, Hattie said: “We really have to work on encouraging the strengths in volunteers and The key thing is knowing what areas they are good in, what areas they find excitingv… I can’t stress enough how they are the heart and soul of SOSAD … without volunteers we would have no SOSAD.”

We will be sharing the full chat we had with Hattie later this week.

Click here to nominate a volunteer leader!!

“Mary has been the leading light for the Tidy Towns movement in County Louth for many years. Since her retirement a number of years ago she has dedicated her time almost fulltime to the development of not only the organisation itself, but also the member groups and their individual volunteers.”, according to the volunteer that nominated her.

She is the founder, leading member, and current chairperson of Louth Tidy Towns Together and she has spearheaded the organisation's fundraising events, including Louth Looking Good, the annual Table Quiz and other events designed to promote the Tidy Towns movement such as Trashion Fashion and Eco-Tribes.

She is the face of Tidy Towns in the county and the driving force behind it, and her reputation has extended far beyond Louth, and she is one of the most experienced and well-known Tidy Towns volunteers in the entire country.

“It’s about coming together with a sense of pride in our community”, says Mary, “because it is our community, and we have so many small and large communities across county Louth that are Tidy Towns Committees in their own rights and also members of the Louth Tidy Towns Together network.”

Mary came to Tidy Towns after she retired from her job with Louth County Council and is extremely passionate about creating sustainable communities and fostering the knowledge and passion within individuals in the community for Tidy Towns projects.

We will be sharing the full chat we had with Mary later this week.

Click here to nominate a volunteer leader!!