TY Update Spring 2018 | Page 19

This may not seem like much but you can not imagine my terror at the very idea and how even one year ago I would never have believed it possible. ! I am delighted to say that I have met many new people, most of whom I would not have met had I not spent time finding things that interested me and joining organisations. I was in a room with over 200 young people from around Ireland at Dáil na nÓg to discuss equality, in the 3Arena with thousands of students to hear the inspirational stories of people about their mental health at Cycle Against Suicide and I’ve made some really great friends. One of the most rewarding things this year has been volunteering at St.Vincent de Paul. I packed what must have been thousands of presents for the people of Cork and it was eye opening. At Christmas, we were bussed to a secret location which was a warehouse full of of presents. People would come in to the warehouse and describe a family situation to us and our job was to match presents to the situation. I really enjoyed this, and I don’t think I will ever forget that experience. If you do nothing else this year, I would recommend volunteering. ! Now what would be an article without a quote? So here is one that I found comforting in times I doubted myself; ! “You is Kind, You is Smart, You is Important” -The Help 1 WWW.T YIRELAND.COM