"In an ideal world, Anam Cara would not exist. In an ideal world, children outlive their parents"

Anam Cara provides support services to bereaved parents and families following the death of son or daughter.

Coping with the death of a child is something no parent can ever prepare for. Unfortunately every year in Ireland 2,000 parents have to face this devastating loss.

In the case of a sudden death outside a hospital or hospice setting families often find themselves outside the realms of any support system and struggle to make sense of their grief.

Anam Cara was founded to support all bereaved families throughout Ireland by providing the relevant services and information they need following the death of their child.

Anam Cara brings parents together through their support services, which include a website, private message forum, Parent to Parent support meetings, talks given by professionals on topics relevant to parents, a lending library and social events. Most importantly Anam Cara offers newly bereaved parents an opportunity to meet with other parents, who have survived a similar loss and truly understand the depth of the pain and despair that families experience at the start of their journey.

All Anam Cara services are provided at no charge to bereaved parents and their families. Our aim is to reduce social isolation and ensure all bereaved families in Ireland can avail of the relevant support they need at this time.

With funding from the Arthur Guinness Fund, Sharon Vard aims to continue the growth and development of this organisation to provide Anam Cara services throughout the island of Ireland, as well as developing a support mechanism for bereaved siblings.

"Waste not the smallest thing created, for grains of sand make mountains, and atomies infinity." ~E. Knight

Two problems, one bright solution...

Cormac Lynch's project Camara Education identified two major problems that could benefit from the one solution. Reducing environmentally damaging waste by improving educational resources for some of Africa's most deprived communities.

Using a sustainable social enterprise model, Camara have hubs in Dublin and Belfast where they take computers from companies and individuals to be re-used in schools in disadvantaged areas mainly in the African continent. To date, Camara have re-used 15,500 Irish computers and placed them in Learning Centres in approximately 750 schools. This equates to a carbon saving of over 10,000 tons with an associated monetary social saving of US$430,000.

With funding from the Arthur Guinness Fund, Cormac is going to expand this proven model to Cork and Galway. This will increase the capacity of the organisation, and within the first year will have an associated monetary social saving of approximately $100,000. Camara will also work to change mindsets about re-use in Ireland, and seek to alter the Irish regulatory framework around re-use.

"Communities growing real food and real jobs where it matters, locally"

Making community gardens work for everyone.

Taking inspiration from other countries Margaret Leahy (in conjunction with Clar IRD, a voluntary community development organisation) is developing a model for community gardens which could be delivered all over the country. Community gardens primarily offer training for persons on low incomes to grow their own vegetables and thereby improve their diet and level of exercise.

Beyond this initial role, Margaret recognised the potential to add an extra dimension by creating the conditions and culture to establish a commercial enterprise resulting in year round jobs.

Each project will be run on an area of land sufficiently large enough to support a commercial horticultural enterprise supplying locally grown vegetables and fruit to retail outlets and social enterprises such as meals on wheels. Workers who will receive training will be selected based on their interest in growing produce and enterprise development and will include long and short term unemployed.

With funding from the Arthur Guinness Fund, Margaret will be able to launch the first community garden in Mayo this year. This model can then be transferred to other communities throughout the country. All that is needed to start is a plot of suitable land. The programme utilises local people making a positive contribution to their own lives and to their communities. It will help break the cycle of unemployment and the workers will be role models within their own communities. All that is needed to start is a plot of suitable land and a community wanting to make a difference.

"Our guiding principle is to see older people as a valuable resource in the community, and all our projects aim for the social inclusion and empowerment of all members of the community, irrespective of age or origin"

Imagine your child is sick and you cannot ask for help...

This is what Mary Nally thought in 2006 when she recognised the difficulties that new migrants were experiencing integrating into our community as a result of a lack of English. Everyday activities like visiting the GP, assisting children with homework, shopping, understanding correspondence from schools, employers and other institutions are all extremely difficult if comprehension or expression is limited.

In response to this lack of English amongst new migrants to Ireland, Mary developed Fáilte Isteach, a community project where older volunteers welcome new migrants to their community through conversational English classes.

Following the success of this project in a small rural community, Mary launched the project nationally in 2008 so other communities could address their local needs. Fáilte Isteach now has 22 centres in 9 counties involving 260 volunteers teaching an average of 500 non-Irish-nationals from 55 different countries every week.

Funding from the Arthur Guinness Fund will go towards the further expansion of this project around the country.

Mary is already a successful social entrepreneur as founder of the Third Age Foundation, an organisation which supports older people to make a difference in society.

"Growing your own food is a fundamental life-skill that can bring tremendous joy to body, mind and soul."

Developing 'community sufficiency' through shared knowledge and resources.

Michael Kelly set up GIY (Grow it Yourself) Ireland to promote and facilitate amateur food growing, to encourage people from all walks of life and of all ages to grow their own food and to provide them with the practical skills they need to do so successfully.

Recessionary times coupled with concerns about the quality of our food system have brought about unprecedented interest in producing our own food in back gardens, allotments and community gardens. Unfortunately, as individuals and as a society we have lost the necessary knowledge and skills that were taken for granted a generation ago.

These local GIY groups aim to take the "self" out of "self-sufficiency" by getting growers together so that they can learn skills from each other and connect with like-minded individuals. GIY group activities include monthly meetings, talks and demos, garden visits, seed and seedling swaps, produce bartering, mentor panels and grower’s ‘meitheals’ (sharing of resources and ideas). GIY activities are free and open to people interested in food growing at all levels, i.e. from growing a few herbs on a balcony to complete self-sufficiency, from beginners to old hands.

GIY Ireland launched in September 2009 but already there are 70 GIY groups around Ireland with an approximate membership of 5,000 people. With funding from the Arthur Guinness Fund, Michael aims to drive this project further, with more groups, more members and more support.