Ireland’s Top Charities Honoured at 2018 Charity Impact Awards

Mary Fitzgerald, a County Clare woman who set up ground-breaking services for victims of domestic violence, was named as the winner of the 2018 Community Hero Award at the Charity Impact Awards in Dublin last night.

The Community Hero Award is a lifetime achievement award honouring a person who has made an extraordinary contribution to a good cause over the course of their lives. Mary was one of the ten volunteers nominated for this prestigious award.

Mary has been volunteering for over 35-years with various causes in her native Co. Clare and as far afield as India. In the early 90s, she became aware of the plight of women and children feeling from domestic abuse who, because of a lack of local support services, were often staying overnight in local Garda stations. She took some of these women and children into her own home, and in 1993, she established Clare Haven Services to provide refuge to families fleeing abuse in Co. Clare.  

Today Clare Haven Services is a leading provider of services for the victims of domestic abuse in Co. Clare. Mary also established Haven Horizons, a national charity that works to break the cycle of domestic abuse through international best practice and evidence-based prevention models.

Mary was presented with the honour at the Charity Impact Awards ceremony, hosted at the Mansion House in Dublin. The Wheel, the national association of charities, community and voluntary organisations and social enterprises, established these awards to celebrate the positive impact made in our communities by Ireland’s 29,000 nonprofit organisations.

Commenting on Mary's achievement, Deirdre Garvey, Chief Executive of The Wheel, said, "Though their work, people like Mary enrich and improve our communities, and the charities they support make a difference to millions of lives, both here and across the world. The aim of the Charity Impact Awards is to recognise and showcase this important contribution.”

Awards were also presented to:

• Barretstown, a not-for-profit camp for children with cancer and other serious illnesses (winner: Impact Award for Large Charities)
• Spunout.ie the youth information website (winner: Impact Award for Medium-Sized Charities)
• Rainbow Club for Children with Autism (winner: Impact Award for Small Charities)
• Spraoi Agus Spórt Family Centre (winner: Social Enterprise of the Year)
• Helen Concannon, Irish Girl Guides (Winner: Trustee of the Year)

One hundred and four nonprofit organisations and volunteers were nominated for the Charity Impact Awards and over 19,000 people voted for their favourite nominees. The stories of all the nominees are available at www.charityimpactawards.ie.