Dublin Bus shared some early Christmas cheer today with local voluntary and community groups, announcing the winners of this year’s Community Spirit Awards. Across Dublin, groups work selflessly and tirelessly to raise community spirit and improve the lives of those in their locality. The awards will allow them to develop new projects and create a valuable difference to those most in need. 88 groups will receive a Community Spirit Award; there are five €5,000 winners, 14 €2,000 and 69 €1,000 winners. The full list of winning groups is available here.

From helping families dealing with homelessness to supporting women undergoing cancer treatment, these are five deserving winners of the top Community Spirit Award of €5,000.

• Northside Partnership (Coolock, Dublin 17) will use the much-needed €5,000 to adapt its Healthy Food Made Easy model to improve the shopping, cooking and eating practices of families experiencing homelessness. Healthy cookery and shopping may get lost amidst other difficulties families are experiencing. Northside Partnership work with families living in emergency family hub accommodation in the Dublin 3, Dublin 17 and Dublin 9 areas to deliver tailored healthy eating and cookery sessions that suit their needs.
• Poppintree Early Education Centre (Ballymun, Dublin 11) is a community based pre-school service offering early care and education to children aged 6 months to 4 years, from families experiencing poverty or significant socio-economic deprivation. Their €5,000 grant will allow them to build a natural outdoor play area and community garden that will give these children the chance to enjoy an outdoor play space containing natural materials and play equipment that helps with developmental skills.
• Look Good, Feel Better (North Brunswick St, Dublin 7) is a voluntary organisation which hosts free skincare, make-up and hair workshops for women undergoing cancer treatment, with the aim of improving well-being and mental health by providing holistic support. Their workshops provide somewhere for women to go to remember what it is like to be themselves. With expert beauty professionals at hand, they ensure that every person gets the attention and care that they need at this emotional and sensitive time.
• Lakers Sports & Recreational Club (Bray, Co. Wicklow) supports adults and children, age 5 to 70, with intellectual disabilities. They’ll use their grant to fund their ‘Grow Project’, a gardening scheme with many benefits of which include improved mobility and fine motor skills, improved physical health through exercise, improved mental health from working outdoors, and increased self-confidence.
• Aosog Child and Family Project (Prussia St, Dublin 7) works with families who are dealing with homelessness and feels it is important that they spend quality time together. The project allows families the opportunity to make lasting memories, laugh, and have fun together. Their Community Spirit Award will allow them to bring families on fun days out.

Since inception in 2004, the Community Spirit Awards has made a huge difference to voluntary and community groups across the capital. Speaking about the announcement of the 2019 winners, Ray Coyne, Dublin Bus CEO said: “Every day there are people and groups working in the heart of their communities across Dublin carrying out invaluable work. It is important for us to be able to give back to these groups through the Community Spirit Awards. They are the unsung heroes providing incredible support to their fellow community members. To date, the initiative has provided grants to nearly 2,000 grassroots voluntary and community groups.”

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