HISTORY

In 2005, some friends of ours in Brussels began Serve the City as a summer festival meant to empower people to bring about change in their community through a variety of service projects.  As they shared with us about how much of a positive initiative it was to their city and to everyone involved in serving, we thought it sounded like something that would work well in Dublin.  Through the generous sponsorships of various businesses and community groups in the summer of 2006, we gathered a group of local and international volunteers for a week of community service all across South Dublin.

Shortly thereafter, as more people took interest in what we were doing and as the coordinating team began to grow, we decided to do everything we could to make Serve the City a more regular service initiative.  At present, our objective is to mobilize volunteers to serve once a month.

WHO WE ARE

While a few of our volunteers are professional carpenters or builders who provide valuable assessment and skill, the majority of the service opportunities that we provide are generally geared toward the unskilled non-professional.  Whether you work in an office or drive a delivery van, whether you consider DIY a personal hobby or your spouse begs you not to try fixing anything around the house, Serve the City offers you significant opportunities to serve people in need in your community.  Because let’s face it – we ALL have the need to serve!

As with most good things worth doing, there is a level of coordination and leadership required. Our view is that it’s not good enough to stand back and presume that somebody else is going to help those who can’t help themselves.  Our coordinating team is made up of volunteers who have families and full-time jobs, but who value serving enough to set aside time in their busy lives to make Serve the City happen.  Currently, the coordinating team is made up of the following people:

Alan & Sheryl McElwee
Aoibhe McDonnell
Heidi O’Sullivan
Rebekah Becker
Cormac Shaw
Brandon Wellcome

WHO WE PARTNER WITH

In order to maximise our vision and objectives, Serve the City partners with a broad range of other organizations across the community, from businesses, schools, churches, local authorities and NGOs.  Some of our partners support us financially through sponsorships.  Others provide volunteers and/or service opportunities. We are extremely grateful to all our partners and we look forward to further collaboration.

Our partners include . . .

Volunteer Centres Ireland
Urban Soul
The Anchorage Community Outreach Centre
Habitat for Humanity
Ballyogan Community Development Group
AIDS Care & Education Training
Community Lynks
ALONE
Dublin Christian Mission
Greenstar
Dell Computers
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council
Crossroads Community Church
The Journey

Special thanks to Josh Iwata of Fallout Media and Paddy Griffin for their web design and development expertise!

Serve the City (Dublin) is an appreciative member of The Wheel.

Together with other Serve the City initiatives in about 40 other cities around the world, we embrace the following values . . .