The Dublin Community Blog

Last week, the good guys from Simply Zesty had invited me to attend the launch of the next stage of Vodafone’s World of Difference initiative, but I could however not make it. I do however like to provide some information about this programme (which I really think is an initiative that’s worth supporting, never minding the brand that’s behind it). What you do is basically donate yourself instead of money. Here’s a statement from the official press release:

Vodafone Ireland Foundation’s World of Difference programme is offering 30 people the opportunity to take a 3-month paid placement with an Irish charity of their choice. This is the chance to donate more than money; it’s the chance to donate yourself.

The programme opens for entries today and the winners will take up their position with their chosen charity next February. Interested applicants are encouraged to find a charity that they want to work with, agree on a position they can fulfil and then apply online at www.vodafone.ie/foundation or the ‘World of Difference’ Facebook site. Likewise, charities are advised to find their own applicants for the programme if they have a specific project in mind but just need the right person. Charities can even seek like-minded souls and advertise for suitable applicants on the Facebook site to find their perfect match.

So if you really want to support and help a charity (and got 3 months to spare), why not think about applying? You’ll find all details over on their website, and you can apply until November 21st.

Here’s also a short video, showing what I missed on the night of the launch and featuring some tips from a successful applicant for the programme:

I’ve been doing a little thinking about this blog over the past while, why I started it, where we’ve come from since those early days when I started it, 4 years ago today, where it’s going and how it can be used to do some more good.

The idea I had when starting the blog was to create a community resource, where people living in and around Dublin could contribute an interesting and relevant dialogue for people in and around Dublin (and beyond).

The highlight for us as a contributory team was obviously winning Best Group Blog at the 2009 Irish Blog Awards. But this blog wasn’t created to win awards (great and all as they are!), it was created to do something good.

Recently, as a team, we were provided by a PR agency a number of prizes to give to our readers and we have been debating amongst ourselves how best to distribute these prizes. We’ve had similar approaches in the past that we’ve knocked back as we didn’t know how best to distribute them. We’ve considered competitions, but have since come up with a better idea. Here goes:

We want to start a campaign to make Dublin smile. We hope that this campaign goes a little viral and gets some support from fellow blogs and also some more business around town.

The concept is relatively simple, we want people to do something good, at random and document this for us. Ideally if we can get photos or videos of you doing this, then all the better, but we want to hear your story of how you made someone smile first and foremost.

The main focus of this campaign is to look out for people in need. For example, if you see a homeless person on the street, stop, say hello and buy them a sandwich or a coffee. Get their name, tell us a bit of their story and your time with them, get a photo of you together and we send you a prize. Another example could be if you see someone unable to find change for a parking meter, put your hand in your pocket, give them the change if you have it and again, send us the story. It’s quite simple really. If we can get corporate Dublin involved in sending us some more gifts to assist this process, this thing could become a big success.

I’m really interested to see if people think that this could be a runner. We would really love to see other blogs get involved in this, touching up their corporate contacts and starting off a wider campaign to make Dublin and indeed the rest of the country smile.

Maybe we’re being over optimistic. Maybe people really aren’t interested in making others smile. But I, and the rest of the team here at Dublinblog.ie believe that we can at least start to make the world a little happier!

Big thanks to Declan for letting us know about a gig happening in The Button Factory this Friday night to benefit relief efforts in Haiti. Attention Bebe and Mob Fandango headline the show and The Button Factory have offered their venue for free so that all proceeds can go to Partners in Health in their efforts to bring relief and humanitarian aid to the people of Haiti. CLICK HERE to see the Facebook event page. Tickets are €10 at the door.

No doubt everyone is aware of the massive earthquake that occurred recently in Haiti, one of the worlds poorest nations. Reports coming out of Haiti at the moment are staggeringly hard to comprehend, with the Haitian Prime Minister stating that over 100,000 people may have died as a result of the quake.

The International response to aid the people of Haiti has been swift, with governments, companies and aid agencies all scrambling to help. The general public too have been generous and forthcoming with aid, with social networking coming to the fore once again.

However, the more help and assistance that can be provided the better. There are numerous ways you can donate any spare cash to the relief funds, some of which are listed below:

Donate to UNICEF or CARE via Google
Donate to Concern
Donate to Oxfam
Donate to Goal
Donate to Trocaire
Donate to Irish Red Cross

The Dublin City Soul Festival, which was launched in May 2007 was designed as a positive feel-great celebration for the people of Ireland. The festival is committed to promoting Dublin and Ireland as a major tourist destination, in addition to promoting community spirit.

Aside from the growing annual festival event which has attracted over 35,000 people annually, generating an estimated €6 million for the Irish economy they have also established a charity – the ‘Musical Youth Foundation’ (CHY#18624) which aims to provide musical instruments and tuition for underprivileged children.

In 2008, as part of their dedication to promoting positive activity within the local community the Dublin City Soul Festival launched the ‘Dublin Soul Awards’, designed to recognise the tireless work of volunteers and outstanding ‘Dublin Souls’ within the local and wider community.

They presented the inaugural Dublin Soul Award to Brother Kevin Crowley, founder of the Capuchin Day Centre in November 2008. Brother Kevin and his team of volunteers are serving over 500 free meals a day to homeless people in the city and is truly ‘an outstanding Dublin Soul’ and a worthy winner of the first annual Dublin Soul Award.

They are now seeking nominations for 2009…and would welcome any suggestions. If you know someone who regularly and selflessly gives up their time and invests their energy to help others, someone making a real difference to the lives of others within the local community please e-mail chris@dublincitysoulfestival.ie with some basic details and he will be in touch!

I also think that this would be a great opportunity to promote some of Dublin’s ‘good souls’ via the comments section of the blog below. Who knows, we may even do some feature pieces on those that we feel are truly stand-out and worthy of a mention.

The Niall Mellon Township Trust is having a national Flag Day called “Hard Hat Day Homes for Children” today, Friday the 8th of May to raise much needed funds for children presently living in shacks in townships of South Africa. The conditions are unbearable with no water, no toilets and inadequate cooking facilities. When it rains, as it does for a number of months in the year, the shack leak badly and when it’s sunny, the shacks are like ovens. Normal living is made impossible. The new houses we build transform lives and dramatically improve children’s health, school attendance, life expectancy and job prospects. To date we have built 11,000 houses and have set a target to house 48,000 people in 2009. To achieve this we need to raise as much money as we can from Hard Hat Day – please buy a virtual hat on line now. Simply click on http://www.hardhatday.com/virtual-hard-hats/. Hats off to you!

The Ball of Enchantment is a black tie event in aid of St. Michael’s House. St. Michael’s House was founded in 1955 by parents and is now Ireland’s largest provider of community-based supports for children and adults with an intellectual disability and their families. Services are provided through 160 locations in the greater Dublin area. Services include clinical (Speech-Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Psychology, Social Work), counseling, educational, vocational training, employment, social and recreational, residential and respite.

The ball is being held at the Radisoon Royal Hotel in Dublin 8 on 12th April, 2008. Champagne reception begins at 7:00 PM, followed by a five-course meal and dancing. There will also be a raffle and auction. If you are interested in attending the ball or donating prizes for the raffle, you can email smh_charityball@yahoo.com