Offaly Young People Win Gold And Silver At Aldi Foroige Youth Citizenship Awards
The Aldi Foróige Youth Citizenship Awards took place in Citywest Hotel & Conference Centre where over 2300 young people from throughout Ireland showcased their work in the community.
204 groups took part in the awards with projects covering topics such as equality; homelessness; mental health; culture and much more.
Young people from Offaly excelled at the awards winning a gold star award, two silver star awards, and a ‘Ones to Watch’ award.
Clonfert Foróige Club won a gold star award for their fundraising efforts to buy a defibrillator; Shelly Dunican won a silver star award for her awareness campaign on the issue of sexual consent; Ballycumber Foróige Club won a silver star award for their community garden; and Ferbane Citizenship Interest Group won a ‘Ones to Watch’ award for their work on the local playground.
There were seven projects from Offaly and they were:
Clonfert Foróige Club, Co. Offaly
After an initial questionnaire was handed out to the community asking what could be done, this group decided to act on the biggest response which was the need for a new defibrillator. The group organised a speaker who educated the group on the locations and use of defibrillators. There was then a community meeting to decide on the disco and stay awake as the fundraising events. Organisation was key to the event with members involved in booking buses, entertainment, decoration and running the disco shop. A post-event club meeting showed that both the group and the community were happy with the event and the money raised and the group learned that the community would like to see more events like this organised in the future.
Rath Eglish Foróige Club, Co. Offaly
This club decided to partner with the Lions Club to collect glasses which could be reused and sent to comprehensive eye sight clinics in developing countries. The group collected pairs of glasses through approaching the local schools, parents of members and through the Mass leaflet. The young people designed collection boxes and placed them in local businesses. The collection exceeded their expectations and they successfully collected over 200 pairs of glasses.
Gallen Community Ferbane Foroige Club, Co. Offaly
This group had extensive discussions to decide on what to do including consulting their leaders and online research. They decided to clean up a communal woodland because this would benefit everyone and the group saw the potential for a learning experience in the process. A woodland walk was organised to identify what needed to be done and then the group contacted a member of the local tidy towns. Through division of labour the group successfully organised and advertised the event with a follow up evaluation. On reflection the group showed a new found appreciation for conserving the woodlands and what it means to the community.
Ballycumber Foróige Club, Co. Offaly
The young people from Ballycumber Foróige Club Co. Offaly decided to create a community garden for display outside of the Aldi tent at the National Ploughing Championships. After brainstorming ideas, they decided to take inspiration from their local surroundings and based the theme of their garden on the boglands in the Midlands. Working hard over the summer months, the group spoke to gardening and landscape experts for guidance about the project. They assembled the plants, built a wooden train, created a board walk, and collected items such as wheelbarrow and bog oak to display in the garden. The young people organised for the garden to be transported, and they assembled it for display outside the Aldi tent for the duration of this year’s National Ploughing Championships. They received great feedback about the garden, which attracted thousands of visitors during the three day event. They say that they learnt a huge amount during the project including an appreciation of the importance of the natural habitats in their community.
Ferbane Citizenship Interest Group
Following research on the needs of their community, the group realised that it was important that young people voice their opinions on the issues that affect their local area. They decided to organise a campaign to advocate on behalf of the community. They approached local politicians and the local county council to encourage them to provide more services in the community, and to upgrade the local playground. They hope that Offaly Local Development will accept their funding application to repair the playground, and they continue to contact local politicians and organisations to make improvements in the community.
Shelly Dunican, Co. Offaly
Shelly became aware of a lack of education for young people on the issue of sexual consent and in particular on the law of sexual consent particularly in people aged 15 -25. Shelly looked at developing a survey based on the Europoll Survey and results on Gender Based Violence. She used Q10 from the Europoll study as her bases in order to have a clear piece to compare to. Shelly has tracked and publicised her survey depending on demographics she felt that she was missing. Her aim is to have 100 completed surveys before contrasting the education of young people in Ireland to the results of the 1,000 people Europoll survey.
John Dunican, Co. Offaly
Inspired by his friend, a lifelong wheelchair user, John decided to focus his citizenship project on disability issues. He wanted to focus on changing the stigma of being a wheelchair user and demonstrate how this disability is no reason to not engage with sports. He also wanted to give his friend, Joshua, an opportunity to show the ability wheelchair users have to express themselves and live a full life. John decided to address two issues at once by raising funds for the school’s autistic unit through a wheelchair basketball game. John received support from the members of his Foróige Club to organise the event and ensure that he had the people to participate.
Sean Campbell, CEO of Foróige said “with the support of Aldi the Youth Citizenship Programme has gone from strength to strength. This programme empowers young people to make positive change in the world through examining their local community, coming up with a way to make it a better place and then working hard to make it happen.
“We are so proud of everything these young people have achieved in their communities and it’s wonderful to see all the skills they’ve gathered in the process. From planting a flowerbed, to renovating a community kitchen, to building a recording studio and making a memorial from a WWII aeroplane; these young people have gained essential life skills whilst making the world a better place.
Finbar McCarthy, Group Buying Director with Aldi Ireland said “Aldi is proud to support the Youth Citizenship Awards for the third year running. Through our links with Foróige we have seen first-hand the passion and dedication of the young people, clubs and adult volunteers involved in bringing active citizenship to the fore in local communities.
“We at Aldi are also passionate about championing and supporting local communities. In each of the communities served by our 129 stores we strive to be responsible and to go above and beyond in our relationships with local residents, suppliers, fellow businesses, as well as charity and not-for-profit organisations. Through our community support programme, we are proud to help a diverse range of national and local initiatives thrive, benefitting communities across all 26 counties in areas such as health and wellbeing, poverty, food waste and the environment, as well as youth citizenship. The Awards have attracted a record level of entries and every project entered serves as an important reminder that we all have the potential to be good citizens, and that means taking action to bring about change for the better.”
The event was opened by Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Helen McEntee TD. DJ Jenny Greene MC’d the awards ceremony and played DJ sets throughout the day and music was provided by bands Seo Linn and The Strypes.
