"II joined the Sue Ryder Foundation in October 2016 as a volunteer in the office in Blackrock. I was enjoying a career break having worked for almost 35 years in the Finance and HR sectors. My plan was to use this time to give something back and use my skills by volunteering to work with the elderly."

"I registered with Volunteer Ireland and was incredibly lucky with the timing as The Sue Ryder Foundation were recruiting for a volunteer to assist in the administration of the office in Blackrock, which I thought would be a good fit with my experience and my desire to work to support the elderly. I was lucky enough to be offered the position and I have not looked back since."

"Its an extremely busy office and both Michelle and Gavin have made me feel very welcome and I have learned quite a lot throughout 2017 including training on a new Database System, Salesforce, with the help of Salesforce staff, who have given a huge number of volunteer hours to the office in Blackrock and the residents home in Dalkey."

"One of the more rewarding aspects of the job is that I get a chance to meet and help run events for the residents in the Dalkey Home. Michelle recently set up ‘Games’ Friday and I thoroughly enjoy the fun and interaction we have each Friday with the residents. We organise and share a variety of card games, monopoly, bingo, chess, scrabble with the residents, or just chat over a cup of tea and freshly made sandwiches provided by the kitchen staff. Its definitely the fun part of volunteering."

"I would encourage anyone who has some free time and skills to share to sign up with a volunteering organisation – it has been a most rewarding experience."

‘I have been volunteering with the Sue Ryder Foundation for over 3 Years & I must say I have enjoyed every second of it!

I got involved in with the Sue Ryder Foundation as I wanted to use my skill set & passion for marketing give back to the world. I had been working professionally in marketing since leaving college & loved my job but always felt like I could do more and share my talent through other ways.

That was when I came across the opportunity with Sue Ryder, I knew straight away that it was right when I learnt about the strong moral values the foundation held & how the contribute back to society. It was perfect & I knew I could offer my assistance & skill towards the foundations goals.

Since joining the Sue Ryder team I have been so lucky to be involved in helping with the promotion of their Annual charity cycle, exclusive shop opening events & many other exciting elements! We have worked together to develop strong social platforms that are creating a digital voice for Sue Ryder Foundation & allowing them to reach new areas of the community through digital platforms.

I love working with the Sue Ryder Foundation & I am looking forward to exciting opportunities & success in the years ahead’

I started volunteering with the Sue Ryder Foundation in January 2017 and have been supporting them every since - helping expand their use of Salesforce CRM and also doing hands-on volunteering at their centres.

Since day one, the team at Sue Ryder has been very open to collaboration and new ideas, and are always ready to drive the CRM project forward. Since I started this pro bono project, together, we have successfully set-up Salesforce to support their customer loyalty program, furniture donation management, volunteer management, internal communications and event management. You can read more about this project here. http://www.salesforce.org/pro-bono-profile-building-a-future-proof-platform-to-support-sue-ryder-foundation/

Over the last few months I've also been able to organise some hands-on volunteering activities with colleagues from Salesforce at the Sue Ryder centre in Dalkey. This was mainly light DIY, gardening, and hanging out with the residents. Each time we felt very welcomed and the atmosphere amongst the staff, volunteer and residents has been great! Read about some of the hands-on volunteering here: http://www.salesforce.org/sue-ryder-foundation/