Posted on Thursday 18 October 2018
We had some fantastic wins at the Irish Charity Shop Association Awards where the Martin Kenny Volunteer of the Year Award went to the Barnardos Carlow Shop Volunteer, Mary Bolger (pictured with her award), and our Wexford Shop won Shop Window of the Year Award for their Spring into Summer Window (pictured below).
Mary was nominated by nine people from the Carlow Shop including the Shop Manager Brid Hamill and several CE workers.
Anna from Volunteer Ireland, who judged the volunteer award said
In the end my highest mark went to Mary Bolger. I didn’t want to be swayed solely by the fact that she received so many nominations, however, each nomination seemed to highlight different aspects of her commitment to her volunteer position, and how she inspires others with her remarkable personality and dedication.
When nominating Mary, Brid said:
Mary is selfless, honest, reliable and great fun – the perfect ingredients for the best volunteer.
Also Kay Doohan, who volunteers in the Barnardos Dun Laoghaire Shop came joint runner-up. Kay was nominated by the Dun Laoghaire Shop Manager, Catherine Murtagh. When nominating Kay, Catherine said:
Kay has been and continuous to be the most loyal, reliable, efficient and courteous volunteer, an absolute star member of our team.
Massive congratulations to both Mary and Kay.
Our Wexford Shop won Shop Window of the Year Award for their Spring into Summer Window. Jackey Tamgumus, Wexford Shop Manager explained the concept behind the window:
We did our summer changeover in April when the weather wasn't that great. It was very grey but we wanted to use all the beautiful, bright colours to create a smile for our customers and passers-by. Spring is the time when everyone notices how tired their houses look and start spring cleaning and painting.
So we painted mayonnaise buckets to match the scarves pouring out of them resembling paint, and accessorised it with shoes, handbags and clutch bags in solid bright colours. We created the outfit on the mannequin with a plain dress and beach sarongs and scarves.
We made the paper flowers with craft paper to tie the scheme together. It was great fun and certainly created a lot of smiles and was enjoyed by everyone passing our shop.
