A TRALEE women was among the volunteers from Citizens Information honoured at a recent awards ceremony for five and 10 years voluntary service to their community.

Board Member Billy Mullins and Manager Frances Clifford presented awards to Monica Fitzell from Tralee Citizens Information Centre (CIC), Denis Lane from Listowel CIC, Maureen Long, May McCarthy and Donough Spillane from Killarney CIC for 5 and 10 years’ service.

Frances Clifford said; “We are very proud of the fact that a lot of people volunteer with us for many years. Volunteers contribute so positively on so many levels. We are very appreciative of the time they selflessly give to assisting others. We simply could not provide the service without them.”

Monica Fitzell said; “The comradery of working within a welcoming team of like-minded people, the challenge of learning new information and the sense of doing something which is of value to the community are some of the reasons why I volunteer with Citizens Information in Kerry”.

Volunteers are a key part of the service and work along with a small number of paid staff to deliver information, advise and advocacy to the community.

Those who have used the service have commented that without the professional support of the Citizens Information team they would not have been able to access their rights or deal with the issues which were paramount to them. Last year Kerry CIS responded to over 19,000 callers and over 26,000 queries.

At present Kerry CIS are seeking to recruit new volunteers to join their existing teams across the county. Anyone interested should contact the Tralee office on T: 0761 07 7860 or E.: tralee@citinfo.ie and ask for an application form and additional information.