ServetheCity » HabitatForHumanity

Habitat for Humanity Volunteers Serve Their Own City Too!

stcdublin — Mon, 17 May 2010 14:13:01 +0000

In preparation for their international projects, Habitat for Humanity have been sending us their volunteer teams. On the 24th of April, one team did a phenomenal job clearing away an overgrown garden for a lovely woman in Kimmage. Another team from Habitat will return this Saturday to finish up with some planting and landscaping, while yet another team is hoping to do a similar job for an elderly woman in Clondalkin.

Each of these teams from Habitat for Humanity are made up of volunteers who raise funding to go to various countries around the developing world to build homes for disadvantaged and often marginalised people. We’re grateful to Habitat Ireland for sending these volunteers to serve in local communities here in Dublin too, in recognition of the opportunities to serve right on their front door step, as well as around world!

Proud to Support The Anchorage Community Centre

stcdublin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:38:50 +0000

Be sure to have a look at THIS ARTICLE on a website for Volunteer Centres Ireland. It profiles a community centre in Ringsend called The Anchorage that Serve the City have been very involved with over the last two years. Not only have we partnered with Habitat for Humanity to send groups of their volunteers there, but we also continue to have a few of our own Serve the City volunteers going back on a regular basis to help with the construction of the new community cafe. STC considers it a huge privilege to be counted as one of the many charity and corporate groups to have invested time and energy in the development of the centre.

Focusing their vision on the theme of “HOPE,” The Anchorage offer a creche and kids’ clubs to the surrounding community. They also offer birds and plants for sale to the community with 100% of the proceeds going to support humanitarian projects in the developing world. With the completion of the cafe in The Anchorage, space will be offered to the community for a comfortable place to sit and chat over an espresso (particularly useful to parents with kids in the creche), to host community meetings and other gatherings, as well as to provide computers with internet access. A family resource/counseling centre is also in the works for future development.

Though it’s in a position to apply for a lot of funding from the government, The Anchorage has opted to rely on a wide variety of volunteer sources instead. As a result, there are a lot of individuals, businesses, and other organisations across Dublin with a vested interest in the success and effectivenes of the centre because of their own volunteer efforts there.

Serve the City have high hopes that the example of The Anchorage will encourage and inspire many other community centres across Dublin (and the rest of Ireland!) to offer up their own development as opportunities for people to actively engage in volunteering.

The Anchorage Community Cafe

Habitat for Humanity in Ballyogan

stcdublin — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:47:31 +0000

Last Saturday, Serve the City sent a team from Habitat for Humanity to the Ballyogan Resource Centre. The group were made up of two small volunteer teams going to Romania and Thailand in the coming months to build homes with Habitat. While at the resource centre, the group did a tremendous job tearing out weeds and overgrowth, as well as painting the walls, planters, and storage shed door. Staff from the Ballyogan Community Development Group now have a nice back garden area behind their office building and a place to plant a community garden to be maintained by residents of the estate.

The Resource centre is used for a variety of different services for residents of Ballyogan, including homework clubs, family support, counselling, life skills training, and more. It’s been a privilege for Serve the City to partner with the Ballyogan community over the last few years! (CLICK HERE to see our entire image gallery on Flickr.)