We are passionate about young people. We are passionate about education. And we are passionate about the world we live in. We know that the world is not always fair, not always equal and not always just. We also know that young people can be powerful catalysts for social change when given opportunities and supports.
Bazaar Cake Sale
On Thursday, December 14th, the YSI group set up a stand at the annual St.Gerards Bazaar to sell cakes in order to raise money for many different charities especially Tiglin. We spent 4 hours encouraging adults and children to buy cakes, cupcakes, brownies, biscuits, and Rice Krispies. It was lots of fun fundraising for them and I’d definitely participate again.
Dignity Bags
On Tuesday, December 19, the YSI group had organised for the TY’s to put together all of the dignity bags for the homeless. Each year were asked to bring in different items in order to make specific bags for males, females and children. These items involved a toothbrush, toothpaste, toilet roll, water, cereal bars etc, the essentials for everyday life. We separated out all the items into different boxes, each YSI person sat behind a box and as the other students were walking down the line of boxes each bag got one of each item from the boxes. This was a good strategy to ensure that all bags had equal amounts of each item. These dignity bags we’re going to be taken by Tiglin and brought onto their No Bucks Cafe truck in order to give them to the homeless people they see on the street. I enjoyed participating in this activity for the homeless and I hope that it will continue each year.
Tiglin Collection
On Friday, December 22, Chris, Hayley and John from Tiglin came to collect the dignity bags from our school to place onto the No Bucks Cafe that they drive around Dublin City on Thursday nights to deliver coffee and tea to the homeless people living on the Dublin streets. We placed all of the bags onto the truck and had a celebration with the Tiglin members. They were so grateful for all of our hard work put into those dignity bags in so little time, they were shocked by the amount of bags we had put together. We had collected enough supplies to put together over 70 bags for those who need them. Delivering those bags to Tiglin was such a special experience that I hope to be apart of again one day.
Carol Singing
On Thursday, December 21, the YSI group travelled to St.Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre to carol sing for 2 hours in order to raise money for the Peter McVerry Trust. We sang from 12-2. During this time, a few women from Peter McVerry attempted to collect money from the public in the area. We raised over €700 for the trust that day. They were very grateful for all of our hard work over the last few weeks. I hope that the fundraising for the Peter McVerry Trust continues over the next few years as I had a lot of fun while raising money for the homeless who are trying to get back on the right track, it’s important they have the funds to do so.
YSI Speak Out
The YSI group from Transition Year travelled to the Royal Marine hotel in Dun Laoghaire to participate in one of their speak outs. The Speak Out includes the group getting up on stage and performing a play we had put together explaining the concept we looked at throughout the year. We wanted to explain how Tiglin, SVP and Peter McVerry had helped us greatly throughout our project by sponsorship and ideas. We represented all of our work in this play and hopefully the judges enjoyed and understood all of our hard work and commitment to their organisation while in TY.