Dun Laoghaire Harbour sailor and Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Secretary, Ciara Dowling has been honoured for her role in the COVID-19 pandemic by Volunteer Ireland.
Ciara, who was nominated by Brad Wilmot of Serve the City charity for her role in assisting others during the pandemic was praised for her dedication.
Ciara joined 'Serve the City' through a recruitment drive at the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Every autumn people from all over Ireland nominate neighbours, family, friends, colleagues and community supporters for the chance to win a Volunteer Ireland Award.
According to the Award's citation published here, facing tremendous challenges of her own as her business was temporarily closed due to COVID-19, Ciara re-channelled her 'unbridled energy into helping others'.
"Ciara volunteered for hours each day, accepting multiple assignments one after the other. The M50 became Ciara’s friend as she racked up the miles from supermarket to client, butcher to grocer, back home and then back out again. From early in the morning to well after dinner each day, every assignment was delivered without question, no matter the hour, no matter the inconvenience and always to support the cause", the citation reads.
"Ciara was always there when a crisis or problem hit. The project ran into difficulty one afternoon as they were short of delivery volunteers. One call to Ciara and 15 minutes later she arrived at the premises of one of their partner organisations, loaded the car to the hilt and set about on her merry way ensuring people had dinner that evening".
