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This article was first published on April 17th, 2008.
As soon as I met 17 year old Rebekah McKinley I knew that she would make an outstanding volunteer. Rebekah came forward having searched on the Internet to see what voluntary opportunities were available in her area. Through information on the Partnership’s Volunteer Bureau website Rebekah got in touch and we met up in December 2007 for a chat about the different types of voluntary work available. During the course of the conversation it became clear that Rebekah was already an experienced volunteer having completed her bronze Gaisce award. As part of Gaisce Rebekah had volunteered in the local library and an older people’s home and she had also taken part in school fundraising initiatives for Irish Cancer Research, in addition Rebekah has been accepted onto the Camp America programme this summer and will spend a month living and working with disadvantaged children in the USA.
It was clear that Rebekah had a clear picture of her future and where she wanted to be over the coming years. Rebekah told me that she wishes to study social work at university and I knew that I had to find a voluntary position for her that would challenge and motivate her. We discussed different options and Rebekah chose to volunteer with Positive Age which was looking for volunteer computer tutors to mentor older people in basic computer skills.
With the help of Elaine Cartmill in Positive Age Rebekah was matched up with her mentee, Ema and they agreed to meet each Saturday morning in the library in Monaghan. Elaine had the following words to say about Rebekah: “Rebekah has been training Ema for 6 weeks and is fantastic, mature beyond her years. She’s a great volunteer and has really helped Ema to develop her computer skills.”
Rebekah had the following thoughts on her volunteering: “I’m really glad I got involved, I was doing something I wouldn’t have even thought of before and I really enjoyed it. Over the past number of weeks I have got to know Ema and also brushed up on my own computer skills. I would urge all young people like me to give volunteering a try.”
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