On the 19th and 26th October between 10am and 1pm some Ukrainian Volunteers living in Kildare will be meeting here at Kildare Community Development Centre to make some Robin Christmas decorations. These hand made Robins will then be donated to Kildare Wildlife Rescue for them to sell in the lead up to Christmas to raise vital funds for a great local charity.
The workshops are open to everybody from every background and are completely free. They are a teaching workshop, so if you would like to learn this skill, make some new friends and help a local charity you are more than welcome to come along and get involved. You can contact Ivanna on Ivanna@volunteerkildare.ie to register. It’s okay to come to one or both workshops!

The Christmas Robin is the idea of Tetiana Husieva who had this to say about her inspiration for this
“I generally like to create things that make the person who receives them feel warm and smile. And when you hold a bird in your hands, tenderness and a sense of unity awaken in your soul, because both the bird and our soul can fly, albeit in different ways. I chose the colors for the birds so that they were native to both Ukrainians and Irish. Somehow. We want people to believe in the best, which came to us even in such cute little things.”

Kildare Volunteer Centre hosted a special awards event in March 2023 at the Council Chambers in Aras Chill Dara. The event was to celebrate and mark the huge work of volunteers across Co. Kildare in the past year. Cathaoirleach Fintan Brett was there to thank the volunteers for their selfless dedication to the community and to present the awards.

Manager David Hand who marked one year as Centre Manager acted as MC for the night, and described the work of each of the volunteers who were nominated for awards, and what their impact has been for their peers and community. Tributes were read out to those nominated and to their families who support them to keep going.

The Awards were presented to:

Volunteer Involving Organisation of the Year – North  Kildare (Leixlip) Arch Club

Volunteer of the Year – Bernie Morley (Red Cross)

Volunteer Led Response – Maynooth University, in partnership with Helping Irish Hosts, Irish Red Cross and Kildare Community Volunteers

Community Volunteer of the Year – Joint Award to Arthur Voigh and Terry Coyne

A special award was presented to Victor Purcell on the night to mark his 10 year anniversary with Kildare Volunteer Centre as a volunteer office team member. Victor also volunteers with the Moat Theatre and Gerard Manley Hopkins Festival and it was a well deserved award to mark his contribution to the community.

The event was hosted in partnership with Kildare County Council and the Department of Rural and Community Development