Limerick East YouthBank honours young people for helping their community

Limerick East YouthBank – LCCC Youth Bank, Limerick Youth Services, General Municipal Allocation at the Deebert Hotel in Kilmallock. Nine County Limerick young people have been honoured for their work in contributing to their localities as part of the YouthBank. Over the past 12 months or more, Niamh Browne (Knocklong), Danny Cunningham (Emly), Lauryn Fitzgerald (Hospital), Darragh Keogh (Knocklong), Adam Lyons (Hospital), Sophie O’Connell (Hospital), Zoe O’Keeffe (Knocklong), Bethany Pym (Hospital) and Emma Russell (Hospital) have been committee members on the Limerick East YouthBank. Picture: Keith Wiseman

Nine County Limerick young people have been honoured for their work in contributing to their localities as part of the Limerick East YouthBank.

Over the past 12 months or more, Niamh Browne (Knocklong), Danny Cunningham (Emly), Lauryn Fitzgerald (Hospital), Darragh Keogh (Knocklong), Adam Lyons (Hospital), Sophie O’Connell (Hospital), Zoe O’Keeffe (Knocklong), Bethany Pym (Hospital) and Emma Russell (Hospital) have been committee members on the Limerick East YouthBank.

The 16 and 17 year olds all started in the Limerick East YouthBank during their Transition Year at John the Baptist Community School in Hospital. The Limerick East YouthBank committee assessed the applications and interviewed the applicants before approving a total of €2,100 in grants to six projects.

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Those to benefit are Kilteely/ Dromkeen/ Garrydoolis Community Games, Knocklong Youth Club, Fedamore Youth Club, Cappamore Cools Club, Kilfrush Crusaders and Kilmallock Youth Club.

YouthBank is supported by Limerick City and County Council, Limerick Youth Service and the Irish Youth Foundation and has a total of three branches in Limerick – Limerick East, Limerick Northside and Limerick South.

YouthBank is a unique way of involving young people in their local community.  It is an all-island of Ireland initiative of 24 grant-making committees run by young people.

The funding distributed by these decision-making committees supports projects designed and run by young people that address issues and concerns relevant to them and their community.

YouthBank grants are for young people who want to make a difference in their community.  All young people aged 14 to 25, who live in a Youth Bank area, are encouraged to apply for funding with applications particularly welcome from young people who don’t get the same opportunities that others might have, such as young people in or leaving care; homeless young people; young carers; young people with disabilities or young people from minority communities.

YouthBank is not just about giving out grants, it is a personal development programme, which will build young people’s self-esteem and confidence and provide them with an opportunity to learn new skills in leadership, team-work, decision-making, problem-solving, communication, negotiation, report-writing, presentation skills, event management, interview skills and lots, lots more.

Cathaoirleach of the Cappamore-Killmallock Municipal District, Cllr Eddie Ryan said “I must pay tribute to these young men and women from across the south and east of County Limerick.  They are role models for others in their communities.  They are looking at ways of strengthening their localities and helping to final solutions to the problems they encounter.  They really are civic minded and showcase the best of what our young people are and can achieve.”

Sean Coughlan, Director of Services in charge of the Cappamore-Kilmallock Municipal District said: “ The YouthBank project is a great way of increase youth awareness in their communities, and how we can all help make our communities a better place to live.”

Councillors from the Cappamore-Kilmallock Municipal District unanimously agreed to a motion put forward by Cllr Lisa Marie Sheehy to invest €10,000 from the 2015 General Municipal Allocation in the YouthBank project.  Cllr Sheehy said: “I wanted to do something to support young people through the council.  In addition to aiding various projects YouthBank also provided real-world experiences as young people got an exposure to applying for the money and committee members of the YouthBank got experience deciding on the applications.”

For more information on Limerick East YouthBank click here.

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