Limerick youth project wins big at All-Ireland community awards
TWO LIMERICK community groups took home gold and silver at this year's All-Ireland Pride of Place Community Awards.
The Limerick West End Youth Centre was victorious, taking home the winning prize in the Community Led Youth Initiative category at the Dublin awards ceremony.
St. Munchin’s Community Centre, Kileely, was also nominated in the Community Resilience category and placed as runners up.
Evan O’Grady, a new youth worker in the West End youth centre, said: “It is great for us to get the award but it is more about the young people who use this service, for them to get the recognition and win,”
“We are obviously so proud, because there are hundreds of great communities and youth groups around the country, so to be nominated by the Limerick City and County Council was great and to win was even better - for us, it is unbelievable because we have never been recognised for an award like this before.”
The Pride of Place Community Awards has grown into a prestigious and widely known ceremony, as it is now the largest national competition that recognises Irish community development achievements.
The competition, which is sponsored by IPB Insurance, is in its 20th annual year and is run by Co-operation Ireland programme. This year 400 community volunteers from across the country were in attendance.
To give some background to the work that the West End group does, youth worker Evan said: “We are part of Our Lady of Lourdes community service group here in the Ballinacurra Weston area and we are funded by the UBU Government funding scheme, supported as well by the Limerick City Education and Training Board (LCETB),”
“The centre runs for people ages 12 - 24 and currently has around 170 members. We are open 5 days a week, sometimes at weekends, and we provide different services like after school club, Summer and Midterm camps and also, we help young people with CV’s.” added Evan.
What was described by judges as a ‘very colourful art project’, some of the West End youth centre members are involved in a boat building project, while others attend programmes to assist the leaders in the delivery of programmes.
President Michael D. Higgins, who is Joint Patron of Co-operation Ireland, said: “The Pride of Place awards are a most important initiative, reminding us that creating societies that are ethical and inclusive is a task for all of our citizens, of all ages and circumstances.”