The Helping Hands Awards 2010

The annual Helping Hands Awards took place in Buswell's Hotel, Dublin on the 24^th March and formed part of Down syndrome Ireland's World Down Syndrome Day celebrations.

The Helping Hands Awards gives Down Syndrome Ireland an opportunity to thank those that have generously given their time and energy to Down Syndrome Ireland and have contributed immeasurably to the lives of people with Down Syndrome.

Thank you to all those who nominated groups and individuals for Awards and our sincere congratulations to all those who received an award.  The 2010 Award Winners were as follows:

 

The Award Winners: Sallynoggin Youth & Community Facility (Mary Flynn & Breda O'Brien); Kerry Branch (Denis Cronin, Risteard Pierce, Cora Roche, Peggy Fitzmaurice); Noel Sinnott; Mercedes Egan; Michael Gannon

 

 

 

THE PRESIDENT'S AWARD

This Award is given to a person with Down syndrome of any age who has contributed in a significant way to their family, school, workplace or community.

Winner:  MICHAEL GANNON

Proposed by:  Fidelma Paris

Michael is a young man of remarkable ability and achievements. He comes from Newbridge, Co. Kildare. With support from his family Michael attended mainstream primary and secondary school.  He won an award at the end of 6^th year in recognition of his achievements and contribution to school life. Since then he has completed mainstream VTOS courses in computer skills, work experience and drama.

He is an active member of his community and an enthusiastic member of the pantomime and musical societies, having starred in "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" & "Fiddler on the Roof" to name but a few.

Michael has worked as an assistant tutor on a drama and dance module of the Contemporary Living Course at Trinity College, Dublin.

In 2009 he was interviewed by TV AM about the Synod of people with Down syndrome and the MOTE project.  He was subsequently offered and accepted a job as a roving reporter with RTE's "Afternoon Show". Since then he has appeared regularly reporting on such things as the Christmas Pantomimes and the Chinese New Year.

Michael is a die-hard supporter of the Kilkenny hurling team and also plays the bodhrán and is writing his autobiography - his goal being to make people understand what it is like to grow up with Down syndrome.  His ‘can do' attitude is clear to everyone who meets him, and he is an inspiration to many young people with Down syndrome and their families.

 

THE MOST INNOVATIVE BRANCH

This Award is presented to the branch which has made the most significant contribution to the lives and well being of their members

Winner:  KERRY BRANCH

The Kerry branch of Down Syndrome Ireland has over 160 member families.  In recent years the committee has introduced several innovative schemes for the benefit of their members with Down syndrome.

In 2005 members were getting so frustrated at the lack of Speech Therapy for their children from either the public or private sectors that they decided to take a proactive approach which eventually led to their employing a speech and language therapist from the United States. She now works with the children and teenagers in the branch in groups or individually as required to give them the therapy they need.

Occupational Therapy was unavailable in the county, but the committee contracted a private firm from Cork to provide therapy for those children who needed it and these sessions take place in two locations each week. They have also organised cycling classes for children in groups of up to 6 at a time, which have proved a great success and produced some very competent cyclists.

One of their most exciting projects and one that is unique to Kerry branch is their employment strategy for adults.  In order to provide an employment opportunity and work experience for their adults, the committee took a lease on Deenagh Lodge in Killarney National Park in order to provide employment there for 34 people with Down syndrome for 6 months of the year.  The initial lease was taken for two years, but the project has proved such an outstanding success that they have applied to renew the lease for the next number of summer seasons.  We wish them luck with the future of this project.

 

SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD

This Award is presented to someone who has contributed significantly to DSI and the benefit of our members.

Winner:   DR MERCEDES EGAN

Dr Egan came to Ireland from the United States in 1972 and settled in Prosperous in Co. Kildare. She joined the Kildare branch of Down syndrome Ireland in 1986 as a peripathetic teacher in which role she became a most successful teacher of children with disabilities in mainstream schools and it led to her becoming a leading advocate for all our children and their right to supported mainstream education.  More recently Mercedes has worked tirelessly for the Kildare branch in a voluntary capacity, setting up and running twice-weekly early development groups for children with Down syndrome aged from birth to five years old and their families.

When funding was required for a premises to house these activities Mercedes found a very generous donor, who through the Ireland Fund provided substantial amounts of money to enable the families in the Kildare area to benefit from her expertise and generosity.   All of this work is done quietly, without fanfare or a salary.  Giving is second nature to Mercedes.  She epitomises the saying "Volunteers are not paid, not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless".

 

MOST INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY GROUP

For a group that actively welcomes people with Down syndrome and facilitates their meaningful participation in and contribution to that group.

Winner: Sallynoggin Youth and Community Facility

Nominated by Mary Flynn

This facility which is run by Mary Teegan and Breda O'Brien, opened in the year 2000 and caters for young people between the ages of 10 - 19 who live in the Sallynoggin area.

It has around one hundred members and has a totally open-door policy and welcomes people irrespective of their abilities, never turning anyone away for any perceived lack of ability.  They run a great selection of activities which include dance, drama, music, arts and crafts and in particular they have Capoeira classes - this is a Brazilian  dance type which also incorporates gymnastics and martial arts and their tag line is A Dance for Fighters and a Fight for Dancers.

They also have an Adventure Club, a Games Club and a drop-in centre for the older members.  They have a number of young volunteers who have been members of the club themselves and now come back to help out.  The club is open every night except Friday which is the day the Adventure Club is taken out and about.

This facility consistently works with young people of all abilities, giving support to all and encouraging each individual to be an equal participant in all the activities, following the rules and becoming an active and confident member of the community.

 

A LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Winner: Mr NOEL SINNOTT

Noel was instrumental in revitalising the Dublin Branch of Down Syndrome Ireland in the early 1980's.  He was also influential in the formation of other branches in Kildare, Meath-Louth, Sligo, and Donegal to name but a few.  Noel also instigated the initial medical research project under Prof. Connor Ward at Our Lady's Hospital, Crumlin. He is an energetic fundraiser, having raised significant funds for both his local Dublin Branch as well as at national level.

Through Noel's efforts the Dublin Branch of Down Syndrome Ireland was enabled to purchase a house at Rush which has become a popular resource both for Dublin and National members.  It has also been used on a number of occasions for independence training for our adult members.  Noel's efforts laid the foundations for the organisation that Down Syndrome Ireland has become today and for this Down Syndrome Ireland is extremely grateful.

The "Lifetimes Achievement" award recognises Noel's pioneering work in developing the Down Syndrome Ireland organisation, which today has 3,000 members and is the largest charity in the country representing people with an intellectual disability.

 

Helping Hands Awards 2009

The HB Helping Hands Awards received great PR. On the night, RTE News was there to record the event. The event was shown on the 9o’clock news on RTE1 and the 11.25 News on RTE2. Before that, one of our winners, Aoife Kelly, Maura McDermott (who nominated Aoife) and Aine McDermot, all accompanied Padraic Delaney from Down Syndrome Ireland on the Seoige Show on Thursday 19th March on RTE 1. On the 19th we also had a piece in the Irish Times, with Swimmer Mei Lin Yap also being interviewed.

We had a great response from the radio stations. We had Galway Bay FM and the new Dublin radio station 4FM interested in the HB Helping Hands Awards and World Down Syndrome Day. Both interviewed a member.

The Leinster Express has received all the information of the night and is looking to do a feature on the Awards.

We also had the Longford Leader and the Galway Independent interested. All the information has been sent to them with positive feedback.

One of our other winners, Chloe McEvoy from Laois, was featured in the Sunday World on the 15th March.

The night itself was a great success and we had over 200 people in attendance in the Clarion Hotel, Liffey Valley. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We would like to thank Deputy Eamon Gilmore for presenting the Awards on the night and Mr. Aidan Leonard for being the MC for the night.

March 21st has been designated World Down Syndrome Day. The significance of the date is that March is the 3rd month in the year and chromosome 21 is the chromosome that is triplicate and causes Down Syndrome. An easy way to remember the date is 3.2.1.

To mark the event and to promote the potential of people with Down Syndrome we will host our fourth HB Helping Hands Awards and an exhibition on our National Resource Team on the 19th March in the Clarion Hotel in Liffey Valley and the 'HB Helping Hands Awards' winners will receive their awards from Mr. Eamon Gilmore, TD and Labour Party Leader. MC on the evening is Mr. Aidan Leonard, RTE 2fm.

Category 1:
Person with Down Syndrome under the age of 20.
Winner: Katie Flanagan aged 10 from Laois
Nominated by Geraldine Flanagan.
Winner: Chloe McEvoy (9 years) from Laois

Category 2.
Person with Down Syndrome over the age of 20
Winner: Sean Keenan, Curryline, Newtownforbes, Co. Longford.
Winner: Irish Swimming Team and Team Coach

Category 3.
Special supporter of people with Down Syndrome.
Winner: Ronnie Kelly was nominated in this category by Alison Reilly from Naas.
Winner: Aoife Kelly age 13 from Athenry.
Nominated by Maura McDermott

Category 4:
Fund raisers.
Winner: Donal and Nora Jacob were nominated by Marjorie Hutchinson, Jacqui Burke and Conor Ryan from Waterford.

Category 5:
Employer
Winner: Titan Outdoor, Unit B1, Calmount Business Park, Ballymount, Dublin 12.
Nominated by Mr. Anthony Kehoe, Terenure, Dublin.

We would like to thank everyone who took the time to nominate people for the HB Helping Hands Awards. This year we invited an Independent Committee to review the nominations. It was a difficult process for them and we would like to thank them for their time.