Working to heighten the profile of volunteering

Galway resident and community development stalwart Sharon Timothy recently took on a new position as the manager of Westmeath Volunteer Centre based in Blyry Industrial Estate, Athlone.

Sharon said that her role is to try and coordinate the volunteers and to heighten the profile of the Volunteer Centre.

“What's unique about the Volunteer Centre is that we actually try and get to the personal side with people that we meet, with all our volunteers who meet with all our organisations.”

Over the past three months, Sharon has been researching and identifying the needs of the Volunteer Centre. This involved shadowing staff in their daily work, handling administrative tasks, and recruiting new Volunteer centre organisations.

She added that it is about matching volunteers with the right organisations and that one challenge she has is to reconnect with organisations to create opportunities.

“We do seem to get a lot of volunteers if we put a call out,” said Sharon.

“But obviously they need to have the vacancies that appeal to them.”

She said that her brief for this year is to try and increase the number of organisations utilising volunteers.

“My brief for this year is to actually reconnect with organisations that used this before. They may have moved on or personnel have moved on and they forgot they used our service and it's to heighten that profile of all the volunteers in the area."

Speaking about what she believes her challenges will be in the new position, Sharon stated: “I think the challenge is to get the name out there...I think sometimes we can get a bit lost because we're in Westmeath Community Development, we're in an office there so we don't have that drop-in centre for people to come to."

Another challenge is creating opportunities for volunteers. “You don't want volunteers on the database and there is no opportunity for them to go to because they'll soon disappear.”

Sharon aims to hold more pop-up events to increase awareness about volunteering and the Westmeath Volunteer Centre and its services. She said that the pandemic also had a knock-on effect on the numbers of people volunteering as people became more fearful. “It's about getting our name out there more and and more profiling of what we do anyway and have been doing for five years.”

There are plans to upgrade the volunteer centre's website along with Westmeath Community Development's website.

Sharon's role also involves visiting other volunteer centres, identifying what is lacking in the Athlone centre and how she could improve that.

“We've all been volunteers and we've all worked in the community sector,” Sharon said of her team. “I think we have that at heart and we don't want to lose that."

Sharon lives in Glinsk, Co. Galway, but is originally from London, England. She moved to Ireland in 1997 and became involved in community development in Glinsk after previously working in banking. She took the leap into Community Development, first as Glinsk Project manager for heritage, enterprise and training, which led to her studying for a degree in Community Development at University Galway (formerly NUI Galway.)

Sharon's husband Michael is from Glinsk and she said that she is “really happy” that she reared her children there. “I do thank God every day I open that door. It's not concrete, it's not London.”

She initially worked on setting up childcare services from 2002 to 2006. Sharon said that she set up a couple of childcare facilities before the funding become available under the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme including a large childcare centre in Glinsk with 25 staff serving 120 families. She was also on the Roscommon County Childcare Committee at this time.

Sharon previously worked for the Bank of Ireland in the late 90s and had people that wouldn't let her serve them because of her accent. “Things have moved on and that's good to see (with) new communities coming in as well.”

This has served her well as she is aware of some of the challenges for more marginalised people.

Sharon feels that has been a lot of change over the years in the community development sector.

“There's been so much happening, with the Celtic Tiger, with migrants coming into the country and new communities.” She has also worked with the travelling community, asylum seekers and various new communities.

She said that her own experience of being rejected when she first came to Ireland helped her to have an understanding for different cultures and how they experience integration.

Sharon's favourite aspect of her work is dealing with the volunteers.

“I have always loved community development because no matter what group you go in, what sector or what culture, you always get good people, volunteers have a good heart.” She added that there's a sense that volunteers want to do something and create change.

The Athlone-based volunteer centre offers a garda vetting service which is why a lot of organisations approach them to secure volunteers. “That's something we have to keep on top of as well because you only have a month when they register for the garda vetting to make sure that they respond to that.”

Sharon describes her typical work day as “chaotic.”

“You can never say, 'Right, I'm going to go in and do the paperwork today.' It just flows with different things that come in.

“It's very hard to set in stone and in fact some days I need to have a working-from-home day so that I don't have any interruptions, that we actually get the paperwork signed for things done.”

Speaking about the future for the Westmeath Volunteer Centre, Sharon said: "Whilst we will continue to support and organise events such as National Volunteer Week, my primary focus this year is to establish my role within Westmeath Community Development, working closely with staff, Volunteer Centre organisations, volunteers, and sister programmes in WCD.

"This will provide a firm foundation for the future of the organisation. I aim to reconnect personally with everyone who has used our services, both current and past users, and to provide more opportunities for our volunteers. My goal is to revitalise our presence and ensure that we continue to make a significant impact in our community."