A rewarding volunteer task

Matthew came to see us last week. He spent a whole day in our office. We had quite a bit for him to do because another regular volunteer was taking a well deserved break. Among other things, Matthew prepared 50 Information Packs for Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas. Each pack needs envelopes which are pre-stamped. These are sent out to prisoners who are new to us. They contain a large colourful map of Ireland and a poster with Irish pictures to brighten up a prison cell.

We have contact information for our services and other organisations which people may need. Pur packs tell people what we can and cannot do for them. We have over 250 new people every single year so our Information Packs are a very important resources. If they are not ready and waiting then our extremely busy caseworkers have to stop what they are best at, go to print and prepare the information packs themselves. It is extremely frustrating and time consuming to have to do this. So we've made it a challenging but rewarding task for our volunteers and despite it being a very boring tedious job, Matthew does it more cheerfully than most.

He makes sure to enjoy a chat and some music to lighten the load. The time saved by a volunteer doing this means our caseworkers ensure that the continuous requests and letters which need responses get done efficiently and with the least interruption possible.

Matthew loves working with us as a volunteer and we love Matthew's work because it allows us to do our jobs better. Thank you Matthew! Go raibh míle maith agat!