Charity Begins At College

With over 20 unique weekly activities and numerous events throughout the year, the Trinity College branch of the St. Vincent de Paul Society (Trinity VDP) carries out important work helping those in need. However, there’s more to the committee than just raising necessary funds.
“That’s hugely important but our main focus is on running activies for the local community,” says Susan Carney, Vice President of Activities. “We run several different homework clubs, arts, music and drama clubs for underprivileged children. There’s an annual pantomime which brings all of the children’s groups and some students together to perform. It’s great for their confidence.
“We also run social clubs for adults with intellectual disabilities, one for students and one for a school from Ballymun, who come into the college once a week. The committee visits people in need – families who might need somebody to talk to or elderly people. We volunteer at homeless centres too and this year we’re launching a new initiative,adding a day-run to our Tuesday and Friday night soup-run.”

Currently, Trinity VDP houses between 50 and 100 core members. There are thousands of volunteers to be found college-wide. New volunteers, Susan says, are always welcome. So why should students get involved?

“There’s two elements,” begins Susan. “The social outlet is very important. For anyone joining Trinity, the VDP is a really welcoming environment. It’s not too invasive; students aren’t asked to give too much of their time. There’s something for everybody as we have a broad range of activities on offer. A lot of other societies are actually involved with us, co-organising fundraising nights. Students will get a wider view of what goes on in college and in the wider local community. From a charitable aspect, Trinity is known for being quite a privileged college and the VDP gives students the opportunity to give something back to people who would need it more than we do.
“You learn a lot about yourself, too, listening to other people’s stories and learning from them. Plus, the actitives give you the chance to do things you might not normally do, whether it’s getting up on stage in a pantomime or helping kids with their homework. Students are often surprised at how good they can be at these kinds of things. It’s a learning experience.”
One of the most successful Trinity VDP associated projects came last March when over €14,000 was raised as part of the first-ever ‘Jailbreak’, an event that tasked 68 students to travel as far away from the college as possible within 36 hours, without spending their own money.
“It was amazing!” says Susan. “The furthest team got to the tip of Argentina. It looked like they might get stranded there but Chris De Burgh heard about it on Argentinian radio of all things and he sorted our their flights home! The second team got to Asia. We’re planning to run it again this year, but we’re going to include other colleges in a bid to make it more competitive and raise hopefully as much as, if not more than, the previous total.”

For more information, visit trinityvdp.com