A gorgeous graphic by illustrator Fatti Burke to mark the launch of Foróige's 'The Comeback' Campaign - letting young people know that the doors of Foróige clubs across Ireland are back open. 

Hello, and welcome to the May issue of the We Act Good News Gazette.

If you're just getting acquainted with the campaign, We Act is all about celebrating Ireland's charities and community groups by putting a face to the amazing work they do. We share stories of brilliant staff and volunteers, bust myths and deliver facts about how charities work, and we raise awareness about the big impact these vibrant and diverse organisations have on communities all over the country.

And the Good News Gazette is all of the above, rolled into one happy, inbox-ready digest!

Enjoy this month's helping, and make sure you scroll to the very end for an added bonus - our gorgeous new video, all about the role of volunteers. It's pretty special! 

Street Feast (26 June) is an annual, nationwide event, calling on neighbours to come together and share a meal. Its offshoot, Neighbourhood Network, is all about reducing social isolation and mobilising those neighbours during the rest of the year, with tea, chats, street cinemas and more. Sam Bishop is one of the founders of Street Feast, this is his story... 

"Street Feast is a really good excuse to just knock on someone’s door and say, “I know this sounds a bit mad, but what do you think about having a BBQ together with all the neighbours?”. 

Once people sit down and share food, the chats start happening. Street Feast gives people this informal space which can open up new potential - “Let’s clean up that dirty corner over there,” or “I heard you’re in a running group, can I join?”. 

Street Feast was very small when it started back in 2010. I was living in Dublin, there were a lot of young professionals moving into the area, who didn’t have the culture of knowing their neighbours. For some of the older generations, their culture of living out on the road had died out a bit. It felt like we needed to rediscover the idea of looking out for each other. That’s where Street Feast came from.    

We trialled it with one feast, and thought, 'if we can do one, we can do a thousand'. We did a national day and had 30 people host the first year, it grew to 50 the next year, and then 80. By 2016 we had 1000 Street Feasts. Everybody brings a dish, and it’s literally as simple as a couple of volunteers to bring out their tables. We try to keep it as hyper local as possible, it’s all about your neighbours.  

Street Feast grew and we had 100,000 people attending, we thought about how to build on its momentum. That’s how we got the idea for Neighbourhood Network. We support neighbourhood leaders and give them ideas.

It really kicked off during lockdown. People cried out for social contact, and for many of us, our neighbours were that social contact. There is a comfort of getting to know someone who’s living beside you. We often pass people, and we know them to nod to, but we wouldn’t know their back story. In some ways, what I think Neighbourhood Network is doing is trying to build more empathy in the world, from the ground up.  

Last time we ran Street Feast, 82% of hosts who responded afterwards said they’d already started planning other activities to happen out of Street Feast. It was really heartening to see real data showing that it seemed to work, that new ideas were coming out of it - and that people were really into each other!   

I trained in sustainable architecture, I’m really interested in sustainability, in the use of public space, in community health. I grew up in a house that had a playschool in off the kitchen, my dad was a doctor and his waiting room was our front hall. There were constantly people coming through. The Tidy Towns, the AA meetings, playgroups, all sorts - there might be 40 people through the house in a morning.

I suppose growing up in a place which is a hub means that it feels natural. I always end up doing projects with lots of people. I find it really inspiring to see the kind of impact you can have.  

There’s a lot of evidence that shows that people who get active in their community have a greater sense of wellbeing, a greater sense of belonging. Being connected to your neighbours comes down to everything from safer areas and more active citizens, to more engagement in local politics and in local community initiatives. Get one or two other people to back the idea, and then you’re flying! 

Street Feast takes place on Sunday, 26 June 2022. Visit streetfeast.ie to take part. 

As part of National Volunteering Week, We Act launched a brand new video to celebrate volunteers, and the amazing impact they have on individuals and communities all over Ireland. Visit our new Volunteering Hub to learn more. 

We Act is a national, collaborative campaign to celebrate the value and impact of the charities and community groups in Ireland. It is supported by the Community Foundation for Ireland RTÉ Does Comic Relief Fund and the Department of Rural and Community Development. 

Got a story? Email info@WeAct.ie

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