Do you want to help your community in Laois? Public meeting aims to help

People who want to find out more about a new service that aims to assist people who want to help Laois organisations are invited to a public meeting Portarlington in early December.

Volunteer Ireland will have a full-service Volunteer Centre in Laois in 2020. The Volunteer Centre says it wants to assist people who want to volunteer in their community to find suitable volunteer roles. It says it will also help local organisations to recruit volunteers. The Centre will also provide a range of other services including Garda vetting and training in volunteer management.

After a meeting in Portlaoise in October, Volunteer Ireland has not organised a second public meeting in Port on the Laois Offaly border to reach out to across the county. 

To date, Laois has had a Volunteering Information Service operating with limited time and staff resources, aiming to simply maintain a website and access to the national volunteering database I-VOL.

Laois is one of eight counties that has not had a full Volunteer Centre and is now finally getting one - along with Cavan, Kilkenny, Leitrim, Offaly, Roscommon, Waterford and Wexford.

Recruitment is also open for trustees of the board of Laois Volunteer Centre. Trustees with a range of skills are being sought to drive the future of volunteering in Laois.

Volunteer Ireland is encouraging anyone with an interest in volunteering to consider joining the board of Laois Volunteer Centre. This is a unique opportunity to join the Volunteer Centre at the beginning of their journey and have a real and meaningful impact on volunteering in the area.

To find out more the Portarlington meeting will take place on Monday, December 2 from 4.30pm to 5.30pm in the Portarlington Community Centre in Portarlington.

More information on the recruitment process and the public meeting is available here.