On Tuesday the 5th of June, the Caritas Volunteer Service hosted a Volunteer Fair as part of Volunteers’ Week.
The event started with some time for attendees to look around the stalls and enquire about volunteer roles. We then heard from Sr Silvana Dallanegra, who lead a short workshop on the motivation for volunteering, based around six themes of Catholic Social Teaching found in our Love in Action programme. Silvana spoke about how finding a connection with one of the different themes may be helpful in choosing which organisation to volunteer with.
The evening then continued with four moving testimonies on the impact of volunteering. We heard from Sr Doreen, a volunteer at Caritas Bakhita House, who explained that when spending time with the women-who are victims of human trafficking- ‘as a volunteer, we listen with our ears, but also our heart’. Sr Doreen was followed by Joe, a volunteer from the Irish Chaplaincy, who started volunteering after coming to a past Caritas event about befriending. He explained how his passion for befriending elderly people came after visiting his parents, and seeing others who didn’t have any visitors. Finally we heard from Sr Catherine and Sylvia from Notre Dame de France. Sylvia spoke about her immigration centre visiting, explaining the difference it made to one man to be able to speak in French to those visiting him, and Sr Catherine shared some powerful experiences of the challenges and rewards of volunteering.
After hearing from our wonderful speakers, there was then a second chance for people to explore the volunteering opportunities available, putting their newly found motivation into action.
If you’re interested in volunteering, please take a look at the Caritas Volunteer Service
A big thank you to all of the organisations who came!
