Lisa Malone: Carer of the Year finalist

Lisa Malone has many projects of care going on. She believes in giving something back and also that “every carer deserves an award”.

Lisa praises her husband, Pat as “the best in the world,” for helping her through everything, and especially her work with son, Conor.

Conor had surgery recently, following a fundraising drive by Lisa, and it has made a massive difference to him. “It is the difference from being in a wheelchair to him being able to walk again, and he’s a positive young man, sometimes driving me mad, thank God,” she said, laughing.

She took on a project of feeding the homeless and folk that are alone in St Kieran’s Community Centre on Christmas Day last year, which is something that is in the planning stage again for Lisa.

“Pat and I came up with the idea at our kitchen table, because I wanted to give something back, and we will do it again this year,” said Lisa. “We had a couple of women with us, and we all made it happen. We try to make it as special as we can.”

The dinners are cooked by the Creggan Court Hotel, and Lisa left her house at 10 o’clock on Christmas morning last year to work at St Kieran’s and managed to make it home to her own dinner at 2pm.

“We had about 40 people last Christmas, and they’re not just homeless, some are people who are living alone, and sometimes that can be as hard as being homeless,” said Lisa.

Another project on the cards for her is a GoFundMe for a young Athlone man facing an illness battle, Gavin Cooper.

“I want to help Gavin by running an ’80s disco, and a group of us are going to run the benefit night,” said Lisa.

“My mother had an old saying that I try to live by – ‘the hand that giveth, gathers’. If you do something good, it does come back. Look at what happened for Conor!”

The other Carer of the Year finalists are Laura Egan and Fiona McCormack.

The Westmeath Independent Community & Sports Awards 2024 takes place at the Shamrock Lodge Hotel on Thursday.

The Carer of the Year category at the Westmeath Independent Community & Sports Awards 2024 is sponsored by Byrne Carolan Cunningham LLP.