Philly McMahon, Dublin senior footballing hero and founder of HalfTimeTalk CLG charity is calling on all voluntary and community groups throughout Dublin to make a submission for the 2018 Dublin Bus Community Spirit Awards, which launches today (28th May 2018). The Awards provide funding for voluntary and community groups across Dublin to develop new projects, improve their locality and help raise community spirit.
Philly was on hand to announce the launch of the Community Spirit Awards for 2018 which took place at the official reopening of the One Family early years crèche in Smithfield. One Family, Ireland’s organisation for people parenting alone, sharing parenting, and separating, with the help of a €5,000 Dublin Bus Community Spirit Award, have refurbished its Early Years Service. They worked with the Men’s Shed from Kells, Co. Meath to fit out and equip the crèche with good quality furniture for the babies and toddlers who access their service. Speaking about how the grant has helped them, CEO Karen Kiernan, One Family said “with the grant we were able to improve our facilities and provide a higher quality environment for the children we care for. We were grateful to the Men’s Shed in Kells for their skills and time and we were delighted they ended up with some new tools for future projects. We would encourage all local community groups to apply for a Community Spirit Award.”
Speaking at the launch about the impact of a €5,000 grant on his charity, HalfTimeTalk CLG last year, Philly McMahon said; “The grant gives us the ability to provide more programmes and support for youths that will reinforce the self-belief that they have a right and potential to be the best that they can be. I would encourage all voluntary and community groups to make an application for a Dublin Bus Community Spirit Award – the money will go a long way.”
Dublin Bus is now looking for more community groups to support this year. Dublin Bus Chief Executive Ray Coyne said; “Philly is a role model to young people across Dublin and especially in his local area in Ballymun where, through his charity HalfTimeTalk CLG, he educates, trains and empowers young, unemployed adults. We were delighted to be able to support his charity with a €5,000 grant and we know there are many more Philly McMahons in community groups across the Greater Dublin Area who we want to encourage and support. Our Awards highlight the heroes in our local communities who give up their time to give something back and improve the lives of others where they live.”
Application forms for the 2018 Community Spirit Awards are available now on www.dublinbus.ie and will be accepted up to 17.00 on 29 June 2018. To date over 1,800 groups have received funding from Dublin Bus through the Community Spirit Awards which has helped support the development of new projects, grow services and allows residents and volunteer groups to have pride in their local areas. Any voluntary and community group based in the Greater Dublin Area is eligible to apply for a grant of €1,000, €2,000 or €5,000.
Another group that benefited from a Community Spirit Award in 2017 and attended the official launch of the 2018 awards were children from Darndale Belcamp Integrated Childcare Service. The centre provides quality childcare for children and families from the local communities. Their aim is to meet the increasing needs in the community for high quality, safe, affordable and inclusive childcare aimed at promoting physical, emotional, social and educational wellbeing. The €5,000 grant they received allowed them to fund the development of an outdoor garden space for the baby and wobbler children in their care. The space has given the children an all-weather outdoor area to play in.