THE annual Tralee Municipal District of Kerry County Council Awards were handed out on Friday evening at council building and there were four very worthy recipients.
Patrick McCarthy, Dr Rizwan Khan, Tralee Soup Kitchen and Kerry Diocesan Youth Service were all commended for their achievements and contribution to the community and life in the Tralee area.
Mayor of Tralee, Cllr Norma Foley, welcomed the award recipients.
“George Bernard Shaw said ‘I wan’t to be all used up before I die’. Well looking at the work of the recipients, I know that none of these will have any problem in living up to this because they certainly will be all used up before they die. Strictly because they have given so much to society so that the place in which we live and work is a better place because of you all.”
Dawn Roberts and Collette Price accepted the award on behalf of the Tralee Soup Kitchen, which opened in October 2012 after the ladies heard about families having “Cornflake” days, in a situation where that was the only food available in the household.
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Since then the service has provided 20,800 meals. The Tralee Soup Kitchen serves up to 100 people every Saturday from 12 until 2pm in Teach an tSolais on Ashe Street.
Dawn Roberts said the service couldn’t operate with the volunteers. She thanked all the sponsors including SPAR, Terry’s Butcher’s and the people of Tralee who generously donate.
Fr Ger Godley and Volunteer leader accepted the award on behalf of KDYS, the leading youth work organisation in Kerry which has been working with and giving a voice to young people since 1971. Each year they support over 6,000 young people and over 350 volunteers across the county. On a weekly basis across Kerry they support over 2,300 young people between the ages of 10 and 25 years.
Next up was young boxer Patrick McCarthy’s year who boxed his way through to become All Ireland Champion winning the 48kg class. He also represented Ireland at the European Men’s Junior Championships in Bulgaria, getting to the quarter-finals in the 48kg class.
Patrick thanked Kerry County Council for the award and Tralee Boxing Club for their help over the years.
Tommy Kelliher of Tralee Boxing Club said Patrick had worked extremely hard to win the title. “He has come on leaps and bounds in the past few years and Tralee Boxing Club is very proud of him.”
Finally Dr Rizwan Khan accepted his award. Dr Rizwan is a consultant paediatrician and former chairperson of the Kerry Islamic Outreach Society. After moving from Cambridge in 2012, he worked in University Hospital Kerry and with the Cork Group as a consultant paediatrician.
In 2013, he founded Kerry Islamic Outreach Society. The aim of this organisation was and is to promote integration, break down barriers and clear away misconceptions. The Society has been instrumental for the past five years in participating in various social and cultural events along with several social and voluntary groups.
Some of those events and groups include Tralee Tidy Towns group, the Coastline cleaning group, Enable Ireland, Adapt refuge centre for women, Arlington lodge, the Donal Walsh Live Life campaign, Animal Help net Kerry and many more.
Dr Khan thanked the Council and said Kerry is an amazing county and praised the passion for volunteerism. He said KIOS has collaborated with the community and they found that when they “reached out with one hand, we found three hands coming back… the cause is humanity at the end of the day. There’s enough grief in the world and we try our best to share love”. Scroll down for photos…
