SEL Seed Capital Awards Finalists

Revamp 3R Furniture Store (1 st place)

Where others saw only waste, the Revamp 3R Furniture Store saw enterprise and opportunity.

In its four short years of existence, the project has saved over 100,000 kilos of used furniture from the local dump. Often the furniture was of high quality and in need of simple repair and refurbishment.

Their core philosophy is simple: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

 

The enterprise is embedded in the local community, creating up to 15 jobs and producing quality, affordable furniture for the local market. This support is illustrated by the thousands of pieces of furniture delivered to their premises, rather than the local landfill.

 

Revamp has also developed a highly popular furniture restoration service.

 

Revamp has worked closely with a supportive local business community - including the local waste operator - and even brought multinational giant IKEA on board. The company operates a ‘take back’ returns policy which they use to assist Revamp and similar initiatives nationally.

 

Having conquered the furniture market, Revamp has turned its attention to the white goods sector in Longford and its environs.

 

A community survey revealed huge support for such an initiative, with 85% stating they would donate used white goods and purchase refurbished items, while local businesses were similarly enthusiastic.

In addition, visits were made to successful white goods recycling initiatives, in both Dublin and Belfast, to learn from their experience.

 

The project is run in partnership with the flagship EDI Centre.

 

Although, the project is still in its infancy the track record and experience of those involved bodes well for the future.

 

The benefits of the project to the local community are clear: high quality, low cost goods are produced, jobs are created, waste materials are efficiently recycled, local skills are enhanced and income is generated from within the community’s own resources.

Keeping House (joint 2nd place)

 

These are trivial matters for most, but often a source of great anxiety for elderly people, especially when their families are grown or departed.

As a result, the daily struggle with basic household tasks damages their quality of life. But in an age of straitened budgets the issue is not deemed severe enough to warrant a public sector response.

But a solution may have been found, in the form of Keeping House.

This innovative organisation offers a range of essential household services to the elderly - shopping, cleaning, meal preparation - and works primarily through referrals from Vincent de Paul and the public health nurse network.

It is organised and overseen by five local women - Anne Harte, Catherine Kane, Mary Morrissey, Jennifer O’Regan and Mary Walsh - who bring a vast repository of skills and experience to the initiative, in the areas of care, public health and the social economy.

Indeed, it was their experience of witnessing the difficulties faced by the elderly that prompted the establishment of Keeping House.

It began life under the Social Enterprise Longford initiative and has operated successfully on a pilot basis since March 2013.

Keeping House now hopes to expand the range of services on offer by building up a database of reputable trades people to carry out basic home maintenance for older members of the community.

Ultimately, the aim is to free people from unnecessary worry and stress, enhance their quality of life and ensure they stay in their own homes for as long as possible.

Lus na Gréine (joint 2nd place)

The people who run Lus na Gréine Family Resource Centre in Granard certainly think so.

For them, the Pop-Up Shop offers an opportunity to raise income in a cost- effective manner, income that will help fund the wide range of family support services provided by the centre.

Essentially a temporary and very mobile retail outlet, the Pop-Up Shop can be established virtually anywhere, usually when a particular supply of goods become available. It can be closed and folded when sufficient sales have been achieved.

This flexibility makes the Pop-Up Shop option highly cost effective, particularly for fundraising.

Established in 2007, Lus na Gréine has seen demand for its services rise as families feel the strain of the crisis, in common with similar facilities around the country.

Many are families who have no experience of dealing with financial difficulties and related problems.

In addition, the reduction in official funding means Lus na Gréine, has been forced to seek new ways of raising resources to help cope with the new demand.

Their plan is for a Community Pop-Up Shop that will trade in new and used clothing, locally-produced crafts and general bric-a-brac.

It will offer bargains to shoppers, help showcase local skills and bring some retail excitement to this historic town.

Equally, the extra traffic and footfall generated by the outlet would have a positive spillover effect on the rest of the retail sector in Granard.

An initial trial opening over the Christmas period proved very successful and demonstrated the support and goodwill of the wider community for the initiative.

Camlin Catering (joint 4th) 

In an age of scarcity, there is something rather incongruous about under- utilised resources. Equally, where there is a thriving social enterprise sector it is unlikely that any resource will stay that way for too long.

And it is this very capacity for adaptation and innovation that is key to the on-going success of the sector.

When Camlin Catering laid their collective eyes on the state-of-the-art kitchen facilities in the Longford EDI Centre, they saw immediately that this was an opportunity waiting to be grasped.

The kitchens at the EDI Centre are equipped to a commercial standard and for Camlin that meant potential that was not being fully exploited - for the benefit of the wider community.

Camlin Catering brings a strong social vision to its work, and incorporates critical training and educational components in all that it does.

That broader vision means their concern extends beyond simple profit and into the needs of the community in which they are rooted, with a key focus on job creation for youth in the community.

And so a plan was developed that would see the capacity of the catering facilities fully utilised, while maximising the training potential of the operation for the community.

This involved healthy cookery classes for lower income families - on the premise that eating well is cheaper than eating badly - the provision of school lunches for primary schools in the area and catering for community events and special occasions.

The idea is to grow the business in a timely, ordered manner over a number of years, with each stage of development based on good research and a clear understanding of the conditions in each market.

For example, research among local primary schools uncovered strong interest in cost efficient and high quality meals for schoolchildren.

Longford Centre for Independent Living (LCIL)  (joint 4th)

Modern culture places a high premium on independence and personal freedom, often overlooking the simple fact that not everyone gets a choice.

An illness or disability can result in enforced dependency on others, compromising people’s independence and freedom of movement. The physical scars may be obvious, the emotional less so.

Longford Centre for Independent Living (LCIL) has a unique insight into the issue, having been established on the direct initiative of the disabled community in the area.

“Nothing about us, without us” ran the founding slogan, summarising the ethos of a service designed by people with disabilities, for people with disabilities.

Almost 15 years later, LCIL has an extensive network of some 36 Personal Assistants across the county, working to ensure that people regain some element of control over their personal lives and have the freedom to make basic, everyday choices.

They offer assistance to people with physical and sensory disabilities with their basic household tasks, mobility and social activity.

Crucially, LCIL stresses that all assistance is must be provided under the direction

The service is centrally located in Longford town with access to training rooms and transportation. And now they are ready to expand, offering increased cover to those they already work with and also widening the range of that cover outside the 18-65 age bracket.

This unique enterprise was designed from the ground up by those who have first hand, real life experience of the problems affecting the disabled community.

Their independent thinking has helped transform the lives of people for the better across the region.

Ardagh Heritage & Creativity Centre (joint 4th)

 

There’s much to learn about Ireland through the ages in the town of Ardagh.

Immortalised in the pagan myths of Brí Leith and in tales of Midir and Etain, it is also home to a number of early Christian sites, the most well-known being the church of St Mel, the fifth century saint reputedly installed as a bishop by St Patrick.

The town is celebrated in literature and features in Oliver Goldsmith’s classic, She Stoops to Conquer. In recent years, Ardagh’s physical charms have won many plaudits, including three national Tidy Towns titles and the Prix d’Honneur in the prestigious Entente Florale.

And yet, in a town where the ancient past is part of everyday life, there was no operative heritage or historical centre, no visible sign of a community coming together to tell its story to the wider world.

The town’s original heritage centre had closed in 1994 and lay dormant for a number of years. It was as if Ardagh’s vital link with the past had been broken.

But in 2011, Annette Corkery and Ann Gerety Smyth applied to Longford County Council to take over the old premises and transform it into a vibrant, community-based resource centre that would bring Ardagh’s rich tale to a whole range of new audiences.

The envisaged centre duly opened during National Heritage Week, in August 2011, as an art-based exploration of the town’s rich past.

But the original vision saw a far greater role for the Ardagh Heritage & Creativity Centre and in order to realise this ambition, the founders turned to the wider community.

Thus, the company was restructured to facilitate the involvement of more people and greater expertise in the management of the initiative.

The thriving centre is now an artistic and cultural hub for the local community, catering for all ages and tastes, with a wide variety of facilities and services on offer, from school programmes to family events, exhibitions and crafts.

The centre’s all-embracing motto says it best: Explore, Be Inspired, Create.

Granard Motte Community Enterprise (GMCE) (joint 4th)

The figures are shocking: more than one in four males in Granard cannot find work, while the figure for females is only slightly lower.

If those figures were replicated at a national level, we would see some 700,000 people out of work.

With good news in short supply, it has fallen to the people of Granard to make their own news, a challenge readily taken up by groups such as Granard Motte Community Enterprise (GMCE).

The organisation takes its name from the Granard’s historic motte and bailey, which dates from early Norman times.

At the foot of this ancient structure, GMCE has located an opportunity to provide a significant boost to the economic life of the town and set its future on a more secure footing.

It consists of two modern commercial units on some 15 acres of land, which the group believes is the ideal location as a new social enterprise hub for the town.

The enterprises will aim to harness the town’s abundance of historical wealth and cultural treasures to the task of local development and growth.

Granard’s strategic location means there is a huge catchment area on its doorstep, while the proximity of key traffic routes will allow the targeting of national and international visitors too.

The centre will be developed on a phased basis, initially to accommodate a cafe and craft shop that will highlight local produce and skills, while a later Cultural and Heritage Centre will house an exhibition focusing on the unique history of the locale through the ages.

It is also intended to develop schools’ programmes to assist students and teachers of history.

In addition, space will be developed for local markets. There will also be a focus on outdoor activities such as walking, cycling and equestrian pursuits.

The benefits of the project are clear, not least its capacity to get people back to work and boost local economic activity.

Less obvious is the sense of hope and optimism that surges through a community wrestling back control of its own destiny and working to shape a better future for all.

No one can put a price on that. 

Drumlish Community Enterprise (8th place) 

Thinking big comes naturally to the social enterprise sector, despite the almost daily battle to access resources.

 

It is ingrained and inbuilt, arising naturally from the broader social concern that drives the social economy.

 

Thus, it was hardly surprising that when an audit identified deficits in community health care provision, the response of those behind the Drumlish Health Pavilion amounted to no less than an overhaul of existing care services in Longford and its environs.

 

These deficits affected the older community especially: an absence of facilities for meeting and socialising, a lack of beds in nursing homes, problems with community transport and a lack of primary care facilities in the area.

 

Left unaddressed, these would inevitably exacerbate problems of social exclusion and isolation among the elderly and other vulnerable groups, such as unemployed males.

 

In response Drumlish Health Pavilion envisaged a comprehensive 10 year strategy that could reshape services for those at risk, enhance quality of life across the community and help create jobs.

 

The initial plan included the establishment of a Menís Shed - an Australian idea that uses skill and craft training to combat exclusion and mental health problems among unemployed males - along with Sheltered Housing for the elderly and a 40 bed day care centre.

 

It was both audacious and ambitious. But a lack of suitable premises in the area proved a major stumbling block.

 

Undaunted, the organisers reshaped the plan and set about examining existing buildings - community hall, sports centre - to see how they might be modified to provide the services in question.

 

While the route may differ, the destination remains the same. They are thinking big and thinking flexibly.