Volunteer Centre continues to help community through crisis

People who are looking to help out in any way during the current Covid-19 crisis are encouraged to register with Sligo Volunteer Centre who are expecting an increase in the demand for their services over the coming weeks.

Speaking to The Sligo Champion last Wednesday Ciara Herity, Manager of Sligo Volunteer Centre, said there has been an increase in the number of people registering with the centre, and their services will be required soon.

“We’ve had a huge response. There are so many people looking to help,” Ms. Herity told The Sligo Champion.

The organisation also urged any volunteers to be patient, as they may be needed in weeks rather than straight away.

“At the moment we envisage that like other volunteer centres, we might be asked by the HSE to provide volunteers, it hasn’t happened yet but we expect them to be asking groups out in the community. Since Friday we have had 50 new registrations.

“The main message we want to send to people is that they might not be needed today or tomorrow but they will be asked later when gaps do popup as this looks to continue.”

The volunteer centre is also available to help any local groups who may need help or who may require extra volunteers to help through this difficult time.

“So many local organisations now realise that they need extra help and we would call on them to let us know what they need and we can help them out,” Ms. Herity said.

She said: “We have a database of volunteers for when local groups might need help. We have a Garda vetting system and we can help with that.

“At a very local level there are very local groups and we’re just conscious that they need help so we will supply a pack to those groups to help them through this in anyway we can.

“We’re very conscious that we need a co-ordinated response to this crisis, not just for the health and safety of those who are sick but also for the health and safety of volunteers.”

For anyone looking to register with the centre or who may require their help, Sligo Volunteer Centre staff will be available via email and social media, as staff are now working from home.

You can contact them on the website on volunteersligo.ie or via email on info@volunteersligo.ie.