Judging panel to select four for charity stint

Four Irish residents will be given the opportunity to spend a year working for their chosen registered charity in an initiative launched by the Vodafone Ireland Foundation yesterday.

The foundation is offering a maximum salary of €40,000 with expenses to the successful applicants so that they will not lose out financially during the year. Applicants must be endorsed by their chosen charity. The initiative may suit people who have done voluntary work or sat on the board of a charity.

The judging panel will include Today FM presenter Ray D'Arcy, Irish Times writer Róisín Ingle and Jan Mottram, of the Vodafone Ireland Foundation.

Ray D'Arcy said many people were keen to put their skills to use helping others but they could not afford to do this full time.

"This opportunity gives you the chance to commit to something that you truly care about, to really help others and to make a lasting and genuine difference to the charity that you will be working for," he said.

The competition is concentrating on Irish-based projects in its first year but this may change in later years.

Ms Mottram said the Vodafone foundation wanted to hear from people with a definite project and charity in mind, "one that will help change people's lives. Equally we call on charities to think about projects that would make all the difference to their work."

Róisín Ingle pointed to the work done by Vodafone foundations abroad. "For example, one woman in New Zealand, Hilary Price, revolutionised how children in care lived their daily lives. With the support of the New Zealand World of Difference programme, she took a year out of her life and set up a new foster home based on an innovative idea on what would work well for children living in care," she said.

Entries for the World of Difference competition can be made online via the Vodafone Ireland Foundation website www.vodafoneirelandfoundation.ie

The closing date is Tuesday, February 13th. The winners will be announced in April.