Volunteer Stories

Volunteers share their experiences of volunteering in Mayo and how they feel it has benefited them, their organisations and their communities.

Derek and Jenny, Ballina

Derek and Jenny Graham

Derek and Jenny are a married couple from Ballina who have lived and volunteered in refugee camps around the world. Here is their story in their own words. Our story, which began almost 15 years ago is maybe a bit different to others, a journey that came from perhaps elements of fate and destiny as well as personal loss that led us to a nomadic, adventurous, sometimes lonely but always fulfilling lifestyle – more than [...]

Leo Troy

Leo, from Ballina sees volunteering his time as an essential part of belonging to his local community. Leo has volunteered with Ballina Salmon Festival, the Irish Guide Dogs and over the last number of years has organised an annual Community Boat Trip for members of Western Care. Leo says about his volunteering: “I’m capable and able and I feel that as a local to Ballina town I should volunteer and play my part. I like [...]

Ruairí Gallagher

At just Ruairí 17 years of age, Ruairí has a great sense of community and an interest in volunteering, so much so that he gives up a few hours every week after school to help out in Vincent’s Living charity shop in Ballina. Ruairí had noticed the great work being done by the shop and the different supports it offers people who are finding life a bit tough financially. He realised quickly that by supporting [...]

Nicki McLoughlin

Nicki has been volunteering for over 20 years as the Volunteer Coordinator with Friends of Ballina District Hospital. The service was originally set up to provide visitation to those who may not be fortunate enough to have visitors from one end of the week to the next. Mayo Volunteer Centre regularly send volunteers to visit patients. At the moment, the service is also raising funds to build a tranquility garden for the patients. Every other [...]

Mary McGreal

Mary has been actively volunteering in many projects within the Westport area for over 40 years. She started volunteering in the Westport Family & Community Resource Centre when it was established in 2004, and on average, spends approximately 8 hours per month volunteering. Mary was involved with the Social Services in Westport and through that, became aware that the Westport Family & Community Resource Centre was seeking a volunteer for the older people’s sub-committee, and [...]

Joe Fenton

Joe retired from Coillte Teoranta in May 2017, and has since given his time to volunteering with a number of organisations in the Castlebar area. At a retirement course before finishing his last job, retirees were encouraged to try and stick to normal routine in the interest of looking after their mental and physical health. Daytime TV was a no-no, so Joe decided that volunteering was a great way to keep his mind sharp and [...]

Michael McGloin

Michael has been voluntering with the Mayo North Promotions Office, a tourism destination development and marketing office for nearly two years. Michael was initially attracted to the role as he had completed a business course in GMIT, Castlebar and was looking for work experience in a clerical capacity. He had an interest in writing articles, using CMS (content management systems) for editing websites, SEO, Google analytics and other web development activity. Mayo North, a community-led destination [...]