Community Service
For my community service week I painted my great aunt's house who has severe dementia. On the first day we scrubbed the walls and got all the dirt and dust off as they hadn't been cleaned in years. This took the whole of the first day as we scrubbed every wall and all the hard to reach places. On the second day we painted the kitchen and after lunch we put on the second coat. On the third day we painted the living room and it was great to see the house get a bit of a face lift from the dull grey. Unfortunately on Thursday we were hit hard by a snow storm and couldn't get to her house. I have not returned since but hope to do it on one of my weekends.
Difference day
I helped out for two day in St Catherine's school in Kilcoole preparing it for difference day. For the course of my two days we dug holes, spread stone and erected the frames for swings. This was really rewarding work as you could see the students were really going to enjoy their new facilities. It was quite tiring as both days were scorchers. The heat zapped the energy from you and you were quite tired when you got home. I really enjoyed doing this work and look forward to returning to finish off the project.
Carol Singing
On Thursday the 21st of December the YSI group got a bus into Stephens Green. We had organised to sing carols in Stephens Green in aid of Peter McVerry for two hours. We arrived an hour early and were allowed stroll around for an hour as long as we were back on time. We started singing at 12 and finished up at 2. It was very enjoyable and everyone had fun. We weren't the greatest singers but had plenty of Christmas spirit which helped. There was a brilliant atmosphere in the shopping centre and people were very generous with their money. I was talking to a few friends from outside school which was nice also. We left at two and went straight to Donnybrook for the senior league final against Gonzaga which was a brilliant win. I really enjoyed this day and believe we raised in and around €734. Which is brilliant as all money will go to helping the homeless in this tough Christmas period.
Bag Packing
On Friday the 13th of October I went bag packing in Dunne stores in Cornelscourt with my fellow class mates. I had volunteered two days previous to do the first slot which was from 9:30-12:30. This was on behalf of SVP. I arrived at 9:15 as arranged to meet the SVP representative and to get organised. Everyone was assigned a till and given a bucket for the change and an SVP jacket. We started as soon as we were organised. As every shopper passed through the till most were very generous and left some change in the bucket. I really enjoyed the bag packing and met some really nice people. We raised around two thousand euro in total between the two Dunes stores.