A Ramsey resident has helped a local charity reach a milestone in its 20 year history.
CIRCA - the shopmobility and volunteering organisation - has just recruited its 1,000th volunteer since the re-launch of the latter service in 2007. The achievement was marked at its Chester Street offices in Douglas by Chief Minister Allan Bell who made a presentation on behalf of CIRCA to Mrs Mary Kerruish. As well as flowers, and a bottle of champagne, Mrs Kerruish received a voucher for ?10 - effectively 1,000 pence.
CIRCA recruits volunteers from all walks of life for over 100 local charities and - among others - works with the Disability Employment Service Team, Job Seekers, Mental Health Occupational Therapy and the Drug and Alcohol section as well as Youth Justice, the prison and Probation Service. It benefits both the charities and volunteers and has been credited with turning around the lives of many people. Aim is to place volunteers in areas where their particular skills and expertise will be of most use.
Making the presentation, Mr. Bell said he was pleased to give some recognition to CIRCA for the good work it did. He added: 'Government is going through a very difficult time and has been for the past few years.
'Financially, we have had to cut back a lot of services and adjust the ways we deal with them. The one good thing to come out of it is that there needs to be a much closer relationship between Government and the third sector. This is to ensure the vulnerable people who are very much at the forefront of our priorities are not brushed to one side or forgotten in our quest for re-balancing the budget.
Mr. Bell continued: 'The work you do in providing volunteers and encouraging a conduit for volunteers to come and help others is absolutely invaluable. To be doing it for 20 years is quite an achievement. I would like to congratulate you for all for the work you do. It is recognised and much appreciated by Government and we hope that the relationship will continue to grow.
Earlier, introducing the Chief Minister, CIRCA's Acting Chair, Margaret Brown, said the organisation prided itself on offering a gold star service - both in the recruitment of volunteers for Manx charities and also the Shopmobility aspect. This is where people with short or long-term disabilities are giving back their independence through the hiring out of manual or power wheelchairs, electric scooters or three and four wheel walkers. A third strand is in the production of information detailing the work of all registered local charities.
CIRCA's 1,000th volunteer - Mrs Kerruish - is a retired podiatrist and part of her voluntary commitment involves offering podiatry services to residents of Hospice. In addition, Mary is a volunteer for Ramsey Anti-Cancer.
Any prospective volunteer can make an appointment to come in for a chat by telephoning 613713 or e-mailing Kerry.bell@circa.org.im. Alternatively they can call in anytime between 10am and 4pm Monday to Friday. The Shopmobility service is also open for hiring mobility equipment during these times, in addition to now being open on a Saturday during the same times. The charity is administered by a Board of Directors who are all unpaid volunteers.
Photo - Chief Minister Allan Bell, on behalf of CIRCA, presents Mary Kerruish with gifts to mark her recruitment as the charity's 1,000th volunteer.
