One of the pre-eminent agencies dealing with homelessness in Ireland, the Simon Community plays an…read moreimportant role in in Ireland. It's one of those NGOs that is well-known throught the country - highly visible and a common recipient of school-led fundraisers. They run things like soup runs, emergency housing, needle exchange programmes (and no matter how anti-drugs you may be, these are important), alcohol detox residences and prevention/early intervention. They are (unfortunately) doing a bustling business at the moment, if the constant queues for the offices outside my house are anything to go by too...though it feels wrong somehow to be popping up to the flat while other people are desperately looking for a roof over their heads...

Simon Community is not only a great charity organization, with volunteers working night and day to…read morehelp the homeless with both food and shelter, they throw awesome fundraising parties to raise much-needed money for the fight against homelessness. I had a blast competing in various different sports at their games-day in Herbert Park, and got my money's worth at a bingo night with DJs and dancing at No. 4 Dame Lane. Keep your ears to the ground for next event. Entertaining, and for a good cause!

I have given this charity a lot of volunteer time in several countries but last year was my first…read moretime to start with these people. I enjoy volunteering but primarily if it involves work that I can see an immediate result with and I get that with this excellent organisation. Basically they build or refurbish buildings for people or organisations that can't afford to. The project that I worked on was helping paint the interior of an old Georgian hospital located just off Ballsbridge. It was an excellent opportunity to see what the interior of the building was like as they are scattered all around the city. It also was an excellent chance to make new friendships. They gave us free sandwiches and soup for our days work. I did it once a week for a few weeks but they are flexible with your schedule. Lovely people to work with, I would highly recommend getting in touch if you like to do some construction work!

I've just seen that the Community Centre have put together a group called 'The Men's Shed' - a…read moregroup for men of all ages to get together, work on projets, chat, and integrate socially. This is such a great idea for those who are out of work, or with spare time on their hands, rather than heading down to the pub for the day! Bravo the Mill, I like it, I like it a lot.