Chairpersons Report presented to the Voluntary Management Committee at the AGM on May 14th 2024 by Solas Chairperson Fr James O'Grady
Looking back over the past twelve months I would like to congratulate both the management and staff of Solas Resource Centre for making 2023 a very good and successful year where we succeeded in fulfilling most if not all of our goals.
I would like to offer my deepest sympathies to Bernie Kelly on the death of her brother Thomas. Also our sympathies to the families of many of our Meals on Wheels clients who passed away during the past year. We remember them and pray for their families and friends.
I would like to highlight all the successful fund-raising we undertook including our Social Dance in the Ard Ri Hotel and our Church Gate Collections. I would like to thank the many people who sponsored prizes or made contributions to help us continue the work we do. Our staff, John Middleton, Maura Egan, Mia Joyce Walsh and Bernie Kelly (Ballygar) supported by Breege Duffy, Jason, Niamh and Myles continue to provide a warm welcome and an excellent service to all.
Our Meals on Wheels Programme provides an excellent service to the elderly of our community and the numbers have continued to rise. This is mainly due the fact that the meals provided by the Angler’s Rest Hotel are of a very high standard and for this we are very grateful to Frank Heneghan and his staff.
We are very grateful to Galway Rural Development who through the Rural Social Scheme provide drivers every day to help in the delivery of the meals. We thank our drivers Hazel, Paddy and Jackie and the volunteers who go out every day with the drivers.
We now have six counsellors providing an invaluable counselling service six days a week and an external counsellor who works with young people. We also have three play therapists who work with children aged 4 to 12. We thank Mental Health Ireland for the extra funding which allows us to provide extra counselling and play therapy sessions.
Our Rural Transport Programme runs on Wednesdays into Tuam and Fridays into Headford, and on Friday evenings into Galway City. There is now a new service running three times a day from Tuam to Galway via Caherlistrane, Headford and Corrandulla.
During the past year we highlighted many issues affecting our community including Suicide Prevention, Domestic Violence, and Healthy Living. We had our best ever Men’s NCT Health Day last June and a successful Women’s Health Day last September.
We had our first Multi-Cultural Celebration event which was a huge success. Our Christmas Food Appeal was a great success and allowed us to help many families in our catchment area. We featured on Virgin Media Morning AM Show which was great publicity for Solas FRC.
I would like to sincerely thank those members who have given so much of their energy and time to Solas over the past years and who stepped down from their management roles. We wish them well and hope they will continue to support Solas Family Resource Centre in the future. I would like to thank our volunteers, most notably the members of our Voluntary Management Committee, and our sub-committees, who continue to serve us so well.
Our Volunteer Appreciation Evening last December highlighted the important role volunteers have in Solas Family Resource Centre. Our sincere appreciation as always goes out to our core funding body, TUSLA the Child and Family Agency.
I would also like to thank Galway County Council, HSE West, Galway/Roscommon ETB and Galway Rural Development for the funding we received towards providing some of the Activities and Programmes we facilitate in Solas. It is my sincere wish that Solas will always be a place of welcome and continue to serve the communities of Headford, Caherlistrane and Shrule
Fr. James O’ Grady 14th May 2024
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