26.06.2013
Urban Soul Volunteers Making Life Brighter for City Centre Organisations
Over 100 teenagers have taken to the streets of Dublin 1 this week to carry out indiscriminate acts of kindness as Urban Soul 2013 is now in full swing. The young people travelled from far and wide to carry out voluntary work at facilities catering for children, families and the elderly in the city centre as part of the active citizen programme.
This is the fifth year the programme has been run and the hub for activities is The Exchange on Gardiner Street. Urban Soul is an ecumenical programme which aims to partner with local communities to serve their aims and empower them. It gathers young people who are passionate about social action through projects like area clean–ups, painting over graffiti and running community events. The programme involves some faith development and helping teenagers to understand that service is part of faith.
“The underlying values that motivate and guide Urban Soul are those taught and demonstrated by Jesus. His life and message show us that loving God is just the beginning and that we are also called to actively love our neighbours. Urban Soul seeks to deliver hope, bestow dignity, bring equality of opportunity and inspire long–term change,” the organisation says.
Launch night was on Monday with registration and a talk by Richard Carson. Also during the week Without Walls will lead worship while Alan Breen is attending on one of the mornings.
Work got underway in earnest on Tuesday morning with young volunteers armed with paintbrushes and cleaning products heading for Our Lady of Lourdes Day Care Centre on Sean McDermott Street and the Dublin Christian Mission. Urban Soul concludes on Thursday evening with worship and a speaker.