“Volunteering has made me realise how helpful a welcoming smile can be and I try to be that person not just at parkrun but also in other aspects of my life. I try to be more friendly and welcoming to people as I know how it feels to be the new person.”
Ciara volunteers with parkrun and got her Gaisce Silver Award for her service!
“At first, I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t realise how much of a challenge it would be to achieve the Gaisce Silver Award and how much work was involved compared to the Bronze Award. I struggled with motivation to get it done in the beginning. Then, over time when I became more comfortable with taking time out of my week to complete the activities, I started to get used to it.
“The parkrun community played a huge role in this transformation. From welcoming conversations with run directors, other volunteers and those completing the 5k, to the encouragement received for undertaking various roles made it easy to settle into the team. Especially at the start when I was new and didn’t know anyone, people would come up and talk to me, making me feel welcome. I felt an integral part of something meaningful.
“One of the weeks my teacher came down to the parkrun not knowing that I volunteered there and I think that stuck with me as I realised how many people you meet that you know from getting involved with your community.
“The event director, Johnny Sheehan, asked me whether the position of run director would be something I would be interested in. I hadn’t thought about it before and said I would think about it as I knew it would be way out of my comfort zone. After thinking about it I realised that if I don’t push myself in life especially when given an amazing opportunity like this and in a programme designed to push you I would be disregarding one of the principles of Gáisce. The most rewarding part was completing my 26 weeks on the week I was run director. The feeling of knowing that I finished the Gáisce Silver on the same week that I completed something so outside of my comfort zone was incredible.
“I learned how to have conversations with anyone and to look happy and approachable if any first-timers had questions. I learned how to explain tasks simply to people who had never done a certain volunteer role before. Through being run director I learned how to ask for help if things got challenging, just simple things like asking Arik to hold the megaphone while I was doing the welcome speech.
“I also learned how to react quickly when things went wrong and sort them out. My quick decisions improved and helped make sure my tasks went progressively more smoothly each time I volunteered.
“Volunteering has made me realise how helpful a welcoming smile can be and I try to be that person not just at parkrun but also in other aspects of my life. I try to be more friendly and welcoming to people as I know how it feels to be the new person.
“The whole experience has taught me how to push myself and not let the little voice we all have in our heads get to me. It made me more confident in myself and my abilities in all aspects of life. It taught me skills I can transfer to school work, studying and even my relationships with people. I truly learned how much I can achieve if I put my mind to it which will have an immense impact on me for my last year of secondary school and sitting the leaving cert in June. It will help me step out of my comfort zone going forward through life, college and even the workplace.
“I hope to have had some impact on the parkrun community. I think the fact that I could be run director at 18 shows that it’s something anyone could do. I also hope to have brought more Gáisce volunteers to be part of pakrun through my endless marketing to the current fourth years in my school starting Gáisce!”
This National Volunteering Week, we’re celebrating the diversity of volunteers who make Ireland what it is. No matter your age, race, abilities, or status, we honor your place in the community and the volunteering that you, uniquely, do.
Thank you to Ciara for sharing her story. Please email [email protected] if you’d like to share yours!
