Warrior women
They’re the everyday heroes who selflessly put others first to make huge differences in people’s lives. Meet our IMAGE Women of the Year, who were recognised at an awards reception in partnership with Tesco finest*.
COMMUNITY SPIRIT
Liz Webster
The devastating loss of a child five years ago changed Liz Webster’s approach to life completely. Her adult son, Darren, died aged 27 after battling a heroin addiction. From that day, Liz vowed to “give back” to a community she felt needed it most: those who had helped her son on the streets. Every Wednesday after her day job in Wrights fish and chip shop, Liz cooks meals in her kitchen in Howth in North Dublin, and transports them in her own car to North Earl Street, where she hands meals to anyone who needs them. “Christmas five years ago I brought a suitcase full of rolls, tea and coffee, and made up Christmas presents to give to homeless people,” says Liz. “I wanted to make sure they were looked after. Five years later, some of them are now like my own family.” Liz has become such a staple in their lives that she jokes that some of the people she helps request specific orders. “They ask me, ‘Lizzie, what have we got this week? Can you make that lasagne again?’” Liz concedes that many of the people she helps have addiction issues; however, she says that in recent years she’s seen people from all walks of life attend her unorthodox soup kitchen. “The amount of people attending every week has increased. I see students who have no money to pay for food after they pay their rent. Just last week, a father-of-six told me he was ashamed that he couldn’t afford to buy his children food after he paid his mortgage.” Liz was able to provide this man with enough food and a care package of nappies, wipes and other household items for a week, thanks to donations from her community. “People are amazing. I had 25 coats donated to my house. Sometimes I can’t get through the porch with the amount of donations!” Liz says she will continue to volunteer with Dublin’s homeless and vulnerable for as long as they need her help.
FUNDRAISER OF THE YEAR
Lexie Delaney
Lexie Delaney, 11, has been raising money for charity since she was seven years old. “I was on Grafton Street and saw a boy sitting on the ground, and I wanted to help him. My mam and dad explained to me that he was homeless, so we went into Burger King and I got him a meal. Ever since then, I’ve been fundraising.” In her formative years, Lexie has raised thousands of euro for Inner City Helping Homeless, and encouraged her classmates at Scoil Bhríde in Edenderry, Co Offaly, to join a toy run this Christmas. Her mum Lillian says that every waking moment Lexie has – when she’s not winning Irish dancing trophies (she’s currently Leinster champion) – is spent volunteering. “I’m so proud, I feel like I could burst,” says Lillian. Lexie will keep her trophy in her dance room, where she plots to become President one day. “I think that the President and the government have to step up their game, because you could see me in that big chair one day.” We’ve no doubt.
CARER OF THE YEAR
Jean Piper
“Everything I do is for my family,” said mum-of-six Jean Piper, as she choked back tears. “It’s so special to think that Emily, my daughter, nominated me, to think that she took the time to do it. It makes you think, ‘Maybe I do make a difference in somebody’s life.’” Jean is a psychiatric nurse by day, and a mum to children ranging in ages from 25 to nine-year-old twins. Two of her children have special needs, while one of her two grandchildren has non-verbal autism. “Life is very busy,” she says. “There is no switching off, there is no time to think, it’s just move onto the next thing. If I’m on nights, it’s making sure everything is organised, making sure everything has to run to a routine. We’re all lucky to have special people in our lives, and it’s just showing them that we care. The thing that’s so important to me is appreciating those quiet moments with my family, in a busy world where everything is running and racing and coming and going, taking the time to just sit. For us, Saturday night is movie night. We sit down after tea, we choose a movie, get in treats and we all sit together.”
COURAGE
Aoife McGivney
Nurse Aoife McGivney works closely with the Irish Heart Foundation encouraging people to learn how to perform CPR. Her work with the IHF began when her quick-thinking and CPR skills saved a man’s life, and perhaps the lives of several other people too, when he suffered a heart attack at the wheel of a bus Aoife was a passenger on. “I’m so lucky to have been able to have that training to be able to help him,” says Aoife. “The bus was going through red lights, and cars were braking because they were going to crash into the bus. We drove over a bicycle, and everyone on the bus started screaming. One passenger said, ‘I think he’s asleep’, and that’s when I realised this was a medical issue.” Aoife, who is a general nurse at the Mater Hospital, knew she needed to stop the moving bus so that she could help the driver. She wedged herself behind the driver and managed to lift him out of his seat, and passed him off the bus to other passengers af ter they had managed to wedge the doors open. “I remember bringing him outside, and then telling myself, ‘I know what I’m doing. I’ve had this training in the hospital. I can do CPR.’ I was just trying to control the situation.” Aoife performed CPR on the driver before an ambulance arrived to the scene. The driver made a full recovery, and remains in close contact with Aoife. “I’ve been trying to spread the word about CPR ever since. I’m hoping to be able to become a trainer and teach communities how to perform it if they ever find themselves in a similar situation.”
SPECIAL RECOGNITION
Caitriona Twomey
Co-ordinating Penny Dinners and the High Hopes choir from her hometown in Co Cork, Caitriona Twomey has made a name for herself in the charitable world. The powerhouse volunteer received a standing ovation at the IMAGE Women of the Year Awards, in partnership with Tesco finest*, for her commitment to helping the homeless and vulnerable with everything from food and clothes to mental health, GP care, education and addiction recovery. “It means the world, because it means the work we do at Penny Dinners is recognised as good hard work,” she said. “I believe the women who use our service, they are the finest women. They’re warriors, they’re survivors, they do what they have to do to get through difficult times, and I believe that this award is for them.” Now a wife and mum herself, Caitriona was influenced by the charitable work her late father, soldier Tom Lynch, undertook when she was a girl. “Growing up, my dad used to go missing every Christmas Day, and my siblings and I weren’t allowed to eat our selection boxes until he came home. We weren’t worried about our toys or our dinner, we were only worried about our selection boxes. We wrote him a letter saying, ‘Dad we’re neglected, you’re the worst dad in the world.’ The following Christmas, he got me out of bed at 4 o’clock in the morning and said, ‘You’re coming with me.’” Caitriona’s father brought her to help peel vegetables and serve Christmas dinners to the elderly and vulnerable people of Cork, who were collected from their homes by soldiers in the Irish Army. “He let me figure it out for myself,” she says, and the rest, as they say, is history. Penny Dinners now offers a whole suite of services for those in need. In addition to food and clothing donations, they offer a Communion fund, cookery lessons, guitar classes, and a safe space for people to come to chat to someone. In the last year, Caitriona and her team raised enough money to buy a house in Cork, which is used to house homeless people who are in recovery from addiction. Penny Dinners runs a recovery programme, which now has a 100 per cent record of finding people employment. Among her many plans for 2020, Caitriona has expanded the services into healthcare, where doctors, nurses and dentists will be on hand to help families who can’t afford medical bills or insurance. These services are for ordinary families who can’t find spare cash after their bills are paid to attend a dentist or doctor, Caitriona says. “Our aim is to let the government see that there’s a right way and there’s a wrong way of doing things. People sleeping on our streets should never have come about, and this is where the government has to realise that we’re all citizens of this country, and we should all work together to make this country very strong.” Her dad Tom can be proud to know his legacy lives on.