Volunteer Expo 2026
Running from 10am to 2pm on Thursday, February 26th and hosted in the Fairgreen Shopping Centre in the heart of Carlow, our Volunteer Expo is an opportunity for volunteers to meet with the various organisations that are helping their communities and for the organisations to let people know the important work they do, and how they can help. KCLR will also there, speaking with the organisations so even people who can’t make it on the day will be able to hear what the organisations are involved in.
The Expo is a great way to learn about volunteering, and about the many different ways you can get involved.
Any volunteer involving organisations interested in hosting a stand at the event can email Natasha.
Below are some photos from previous Volunteer Expos.
ALONE
ALONE
ALONE (an acronym for "A Little Offering Never Ends") is a national organisation that enables older people to age at home, using support plans, providing a point of contact for access to health, social care, housing, transport and other arising needs using technology and other services and activities to improve physical, emotional and mental wellbeing.
Guiding Principles and Core Values
ALONE's principles and values underpin everything they do: how they organise ourselves, how they behave, how they make decisions, and how they engage with stakeholders including older people, volunteers, staff and partners. In particular ALONE is guided by the principles of Respect, Honesty, Collaborative Leadership, and Innovation.
• They respect the value, judgement, and autonomy of older people, acknowledging the challenges people face and working with them to find supportive solutions while also valuing early intervention to promote health & wellbeing in older people.
• They are honest in what needs to change in themselves and their sector, with an emphasis on being accountable and transparent in all they do, aiming to communicate and advocate clearly, and regularly with all stakeholders.
• A focus on working collaboratively within their sector, valuing and sharing knowledge, creating models and solutions that are transferable, scalable, and sustainable, with the goal of delivering evidence-based solutions, and measuring the impact to ensure they are effective, efficient, and operate to quality standards.
• They utilise an innovative infrastructure to lead, test and take risks to bring about change their sector, using their agility to design innovative solutions for current and emerging needs, to create and drive alignment, integration, and consolidation within our sector.
Types of Support
Coordinated Support
ALONE’s Coordinated Support empowers older people by devising personalised support plans in order to help older people address challenges and find solutions.
They offer access to their services while aiding coordination and enabling older people to access medical as well as non-medical sources of support within their community to improve physical, emotional and mental wellbeing.
The service offers help to resolve all types of difficulties, give practical support and engagement with local events and activities all our services includes providing technology solutions for older people to remain at home.
Visitation Support & Befriending Service
ALONE’s Visitation Support & Befriending Service provides regular visits to an older person. They provide friendship, practical support and links to local activities and initiatives.
Telephone Support & Befriending Service
ALONE’s Telephone Support & Befriending Service provides daily or weekly telephone contact to an older person. They provide friendship, advice and offer information on health and wellbeing, risk management and how to get involved in local activities and relevant initiatives.
Universally Designed Housing
ALONE’s Universally Designed Housing provides homes and ongoing support for older people who have housing difficulties.
They provide secure, long-term tenancies and supports which enable independent living and offer security, comfort and their own front door to older people who need it. ALONE housing is assistive technology enabled and every tenant has a Support Coordinator who provides ongoing support to coordinate any services they may require.
Technology and Community Supports
ALONE’s Assistive Technologies mission is to create an infrastructure to empower older people to use technology, enabling the user to manage their social connection, health, safety and security.
Staff and volunteers are trained to Distribute, Install and Respond to technology.
ALONES's Technology Supports are being fully integrated throughout all ALONE Services and their partnership model.
Housing with Support
ALONE is a Tier 2 Approved Housing Body with over 40 years of experience supporting older people to age at home. Over the next 3 years ALONE’s new Housing with Support Development Unit will in partnership with the HSE, Local Authorities, AHBs and Private Developers retrofit communities across Ireland with more than 320 Universally Designed adaptable homes in clusters of 30 to 60 units. Housing with Support offers a real and tangible alternative to Nursing Homes and in hospital care and represents a massive saving to the state.
How Carlow Volunteers Can Help Out
ALONE's website has a lot of information on the different ways that volunteers can get involved. Right now ALONE Carlow is looking for Telephone Support & Befriending Volunteers and National Support & Referral Line Volunteer, both of which can be done from home, as well as Visitation Support and Befriending Volunteers, who will meet with older people on a one-to-one basis. Training will be provided.
Helping Bagenalstown In Bloom
Helping Bagenalstown in Bloom
Each year Bagenalstown yarn bombs the trees, gates and fences of the town, creating a vibrant tapestry of colour and creativity. This requires a tremendous amount of knitted and crocheted pieces to cover the many locations around town, and we have had a number of volunteers in over the past few weeks working away to help out.
We recently dropped off our volunteers' wonderful work with the Festival volunteers, so they can start preparations.
Our Knitting and Crocheting mornings are continuing each Thursday morning, with the focus on creating Purple Hearts for Hospice patients and their families, and new volunteers are always welcome.
International Women's Day 2025
International Women's Day 2025
International Women’s Day (IWD), celebrated annually on March 8, honuors the achievements of women across all aspects of life - social, economic, cultural, and political - while also advocating for gender equality.
What are the aims of IWD?
IWD can mean different things to various groups, yet the overarching aims of IWD are to:
- Celebrate women’s achievements through recognising and appreciating the contributions of women in various fields, highlighting their influence and successes throughout history and in the present day.
- Raise awareness of gender inequality through shining a light on persistent issues like the gender pay gap, lack of representation in leadership roles, gender-based violence, and unequal access to education and opportunities.
- Mobilise action for equality through encouraging individuals, communities, and organisations to take steps toward creating a more inclusive and equitable world for women.
- Donate and fundraise for women-focused charities, and elevate the visibility of their work.
- Foster solidarity among people of all genders in support of women’s rights and gender parity worldwide.
How the Carlow Volunteer Centre Recognised the Day
Here at the Carlow Volunteer Centre we decided the best way to recognise International Women's Day was to celebrate a great local woman, Sister Mary. She was instrumental in the development of An Gairdin Beo, the wonderful community resource in the heart of Carlow Town. She has been a force for action and improvement in Carlow, helping foster a strong sense of community and volunteering that we all continue to benefit from, and will long into the future.
Volunteer Centre Quality Award
Volunteer Centre Quality Award
We are very pleased to announce that Carlow Volunteer Centre has received the Volunteer Centre Quality Award. Achievement of this award involved a rigorous review process to ensure that the standards of quality service delivery are sustainable and continuously upheld, and highlights the importance our staff place on providing the best possible assistance to our volunteers and organisations.
The Volunteer Centre Quality Award marks the successful achievement of the quality standards included in the Quality Standards Framework developed by Volunteer Ireland and the Volunteer Centre Managers’ Network (VCMN). The framework aims to ensure excellence and consistency across the volunteering infrastructure.
The framework covers the entire work of a Volunteer Centre including governance standards, management and administration as well as the core day-to-day work of supporting volunteers to get involved in their communities and supporting local organisations to develop quality volunteer opportunities and implement best practice in volunteer management.
Star Weaving
Star Weaving for One Million Stars Ireland
Amber Women’s Refuge’s One Million Stars Ireland project is an inclusive community arts project connecting communities across Ireland in solidarity against domestic abuse and all forms of violence. Each eight-point star woven represents light, hope and solidarity against violence, promoting our project’s eight points of healthy love within relationships. Stars are curated into our travelling ‘LOVE’ installation, and other public star installations across the country, spreading love and hope for a future free from violence and abuse for all in our community.
Here at Carlow Volunteer Centre over 50 volunteers took part in this project and we are proud to say that we have created 2,338 stars. Well done to everyone and thank you for giving up your time to get involved.
