Lord Mayor’s Community and Voluntary Awards

City Hall on a SOFT Day!

Cork Lord Mayor’s

Community and Voluntary Awards

Wed 10April2024

Congratulations to S.H.A.R.E .Housing on being the winners on the night in our category. Congratulations to S.O.F.T. Ireland on putting on a great show and to Good Shepherd Services on making it to the final three. We were all winners on the night with a great presentation given by Martina and a novel interval act by the Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Kieran McCarthy. Well Done to All!

The Lord Mayor’s

Civic, Culture and Community

& Voluntary Awards 2024

On YouTube View From 2:34:00

SOFT Ireland has been nominated for a local Community Volunteer Award here in Cork through Cork City Council. We have received a call that SOFT has been shortlisted to the final Three in Community and Volunteering category. What will we do if we WIN!

We have given the organisers a brief outline of the work SOFT has been doing in communities all over Ireland since 1991. They have contacted us over the a few days for more information. The award presentation will be held in Cork on 11th April. Martina (Who nominated SOFT), Patricia and a few more volunteers are happy to attend as the nominator.

We know the competition is very strong for these awards however we feel even if we got some recognition of the work SOFT does in the community it would help to raise our profile. This event is sponsored by Irish Examiner group who are always happy to promote the event. The Cork ECHO have done a piece on Martina and SOFT and it is a fantastic read. Attached at end.

SOFT is looking forward to seeing some photos we supplied to reflect on SOFT in a presentation on Wed 10April. SOFT is nominated for the 2024 Cork Lord Mayor’s Community and Voluntary Awards. Martina O’Reilly, Patricia Grehan and a few more volunteers will represent us on the night.

You will see a few selected photos in no particular order but represent what SOFT does hopefully. Autumn Break, Coffee Morning,, Cork Womens Mini Marathon, Family Outing, Newsletter05, Newsletter21, Newsletter23, Presentation, SOFT_Logo, SoftCandle, SoftStand&Tapestry, VHI_MiniMarathon, WhyOurBabyBook, WhyOurBabyBookLaunch.

The Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Kieran McCarthy this week announced the shortlisted organisations for Cork City’s Lord Mayor’s Community and Voluntary Awards 2024. This year sees the 21st anniversary of these awards, co-sponsored by The Echo/Echolive.ie, media partners since it’s inception.

Speaking at the announcement the Lord Mayor praised the work of all organisations, nominated and shortlisted, saying, “Truth be told we would have given all 108 organisations nominated an award if we could. The shortlisted organisations are a great representation from across the board of the fantastic work being done across the city by community and voluntary organisations. In essence they form the heart of Cork society and its caring DNA of togetherness and solidarity.”

The presentation will take place at a gala event in the Concert Hall, City Hall, Cork on the evening of Wednesday, April 10th. Seven influential Cork people are also set to be honoured on the night; with Gary McCarthy, Fahmeda Naheed, Dr. Naomi Masheti, Jean Downey and Donnacha O’ Callaghan receiving Lord Mayor’s Civic Awards, and Marion Wyatt receiving the 2024 Lord Mayor’s Culture Award.

The event will be livestreamed on corkcity.ie from 19.30. Not sure where on the website it will be.

The shortlisted organisations are as follows for Social Services, Charity and Environment:

SOFT Ireland

S.O.F.T. Ireland is a voluntary group dedicated to providing support, assistance and information for families of children diagnosed and born with Patau’s Syndrome (Trisomy 13) and Edwards’ Syndrome (Trisomy 18). Babies born with these syndromes often have serious life-threatening conditions with development delay and a limited life expectancy. Support is provided during pre-natal diagnosis, during the child’s life and after the child’s passing.

Good Shepherd Services

Good Shepherd Cork through trusting relationships we support women and children who are vulnerable to homelessness to live more empowered, fulfilled and self-sufficient lives. We work with women, children and families to achieve our mission.

S.H.A.R.E. Housing

SHARE Cork provides supported independent living in their 140 comfortable and secure housing units across seven different locations which are overseen on an ongoing basis by SHARE personnel.