Cobh YMCA – Annual Report 2011

Pictured receiving acknowledgments are two of the long standing volunteers on the Advisory Board, Jackie Zivna and Heather Faris (Chair)

We would like to thank friends, funders and volunteers for their support this year and to wish them and  our members, service users and young people a safe and peaceful Christmas. It has been another action packed and productive year in Cobh and attached is our annual report with a few highlights detailed. Looking forward to an equally good 2012….

 Please note that our office will be closed from the evening of December 20th and will be open again full time from Monday 9th January

2011 in Brief

PAKT Family Events
The end of term trip to Trabolgan took place on Father’s Day. Great fun was had by all with particularly fierce competition on the go karts and crazy golf.

Youth Information
A new aspect to delivery of information to young people has been developed online through the www.ymca-cobh.org website. Helpful hints and tips on how to improve employment potential as well as advertising the very latest courses and training opportunities in the Cobh and East Cork area. Whilst articles on parenting, job seeking and global youth work provide something for everyone. A highly successful Leaving Cert help desk also ran in August.

Healthy Food Made Easy!
PAKT have arranged a ‘Healthy Food Made Easy’ course which is funded and facilitated by the HSE. This started in September and ran for 6 weeks. The course was attended by PAKT parents, staff, clients of the Drugs and Alcohol Programme and the H.E.A.L. group and former STEP trainees. It was a great example of the YMCA programmes, service users and community pulling together!

Auricular Acupuncture
A new and exciting addition to the Community Drugs Project is Auricular Acupuncture. The project worker has been trained in Auricular Acupuncture and she now provides this treatment to clients locally.

STEP Progression

Trainees in the spotlight—Progression is a key aspect to the aims of the work we do with young people and a number of STEP graduates have been in contact with us in Cobh to update us on their own progression. Education is the major route with course choices ranging from Childcare to Cloud Computing and e-business to starting up their own businesses in the town. We have maintained contact with a lot of young people and this group have formed a youth participation group who remain active.

Wellbeing Day The YMCA was part of the committee that organised Cobh’s inaugural Wellbeing Day for the community. Held in the town’s picturesque promenade the young volunteers, sporting T-Shirts designed by Saoirse McCarthy of STEP, helped to promote the work of the YMCA and family support organisations in Cobh. There was music in the bandstand, dancing and magic throughout the day. Aidan McKeown, a trainee on extended STEP, helped coordinate the event. He said “While it was fun and great craic there was a lot of hard work. But it has taught me a lot about organising!” Aidan has since gone on to study e-business in Cork.

Film Making – the STEP group wrote, starred in and produced a short film “Masked” to highlight the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS, not just in a global context but locally too. The Launch of the film coincided with One World Week and World AIDS Day and was attended by young people, politicians and visitors from Zambia. The Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork congratulated the lads on their work whilst Grace, a youth worker from Zambia, noted that the issue of stigma was as real in Ireland as it is in Africa with the effects of the discrimination facing those with HIV/AIDS ‘as likely to result in their death as from the virus itself’. The film was backed up with information available on the Cobh YMCA website.

A PAKT and busy year again!

Cobh PAKT had a busy year this year with three groups running each week, catering for 34 kids from 30 families. The PAKT kids did lots of cookery, arts and crafts, games and lots of other activities and there are even some new, glittery artworks hanging on the PAKT room wall. We visited Park Road Day Centre at Christmas and the kids sang Christmas carols for the residents. Great fun was had by all and we have lots of plans for the coming year!

Drugs and Alcohol project This past year has seen the growth of a concerned per-sons group as an extension of the support offered to loved ones of addicts in Cobh. Money was granted to the project from Dormant Accounts and Tabor Lodge, a residential treatment centre in Cork delivered a 16 week education programme in the community. From there a group was formed who now have called themselves H.E.A.L. (Hope, Empower, Accept & Live). This group has gone from strength to strength and runs out of the YMCA building every Wednesday evening, facilitated by the project worker and a volunteer.

Volunteering rocks
National Day of Volunteering was marked in Cobh at a coffee morning that celebrated the role of volunteers within the organisation. Both PAKT and STEP value the services of volunteers whilst the mentoring programme developed over the last year relies entirely on the volunteer staff. Pictured receiving acknowledgments are two of the long standing volunteers on the Advisory Board, Jackie Zivna and Heather Faris (Chair).

Working together
For the 4th year in succession PAKT and STEP came together to arrange a family event to raise awareness of Fairtrade. There was fun, food, quizzes, dancing and interactive activities on the Whiteboard (which STEP trainees were able to lend a hand to the PAKT kids!). There was a even a tasting booth for some blind taste tests for those brave enough to enter.

Finally… Pamper Yourself
There were two very successful PAKT parents pampering mornings. There was lots of laughter and relaxation as people learned how to make hand creams. One piece of learning from the day that they wished to share was ‘not to put lemon juice in your hand cream if you’ve just had a fake tan put on!!

The year in numbers
60 clients supported by Cobh Drugs and Alcohol Project
55 FETAC and ECDL certificates secured by young people during their studies on STEP
34 kids involved in PAKT from 30 different families

Acknowledgement of Funders
Co Cork VEC.
HSE
Y Care International
SRDTF SECAD