Volunteer Ireland have announced that the winner of this year’s Ireland Involved Awards, supported by Panadol are two Kildare teenagers Conor Malone (17) and Conor Kavanagh (18) for their work with the Jumping Jellybeans Clubs. The winners were honoured at the prestigious Ireland Involved Awards ceremony at Dublin Castle on December 5^th in the presence of President Michael D. Higgins. Jumping Jellybeans is a club set up by Milltown Foróige in Kildare which brings all young people together including people with special needs. Many of the club members have Autism, Down Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy. Both Conor's along with their friends, saw that local young people with special needs had no outlet outside of school, and decided to set up the club as a place to meet friends and hang out.

Each Special participant has a peer to mentor alongside them, a fellow teenager from their community, who helps introduce them to others and gets them involved in the club’s activities. The clubs offer fitness, drama and basketball classes.  The work of these volunteers allows children with special needs to become more involved with their peers and helps with social interaction, social and verbal communication, co-ordination, fitness and also allow their parents to meet up each week while their child is at the class. The difference to the children's lives is major.

Conor K and Conor M have had a huge impact on their own community in terms of social inclusion, respect for difference and a willingness to lead by example. Building on the success of the Milltown club, both men have started expanding the group to different locations – there are Jumping Jellybeans initiatives in Newbridge and Naas.   The clubs now have 140 members with 70 volunteers – almost all are teenagers.

President Michael D. Higgins opened the evening’s celebrations and RTE’s Claire Byrne presented the awards.

Volunteer Ireland is the national volunteer development agency and representative voice for the 24 volunteer centres in Ireland. They work to inspire, support, and celebrate voluntary activity in Ireland.

For media enquiries please contact Jerome Hughes, Media Officer at Foróige by emailing .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or phone 086 197439