Volunteer Spotlight: Audrey Barry

My name is Audrey Barry; I work in a company called Arthur Cox. Over the past 15 or so years our organisation has volunteered at various events for Special Olympics. My own hobbies include running, cycling, going to the gym and sea swimming.

I mainly volunteer at the Swimming events, but I have also volunteered at the Athletics, Basketball and soccer events. My favourite part of volunteering is getting to spend time with the athletes they are all inspirational and we have the best laugh; they are so funny with the best sense of humour.

Growing up my next-door neighbour was an athlete with Special Olympics, and I would go to support him and help his mam at different events which gave me my initial interest, then when I started working in Arthur Cox in 2010 they already had a good relationship working with Special Olympics at the Athletics event in Kilkenny, so I quickly joined up. This led to us moving to the Swimming events and the rest as they say is history, I’ve worked this event every year since.

Picking out my most memorable moments with Special Olympics is hard as there are so many of these moments, every time I volunteer it is rewarding and memorable!! I think one of the standout moments was a couple of years ago, I was honoured to be asked to the awards evening held in the City North Hotel. All the athletes were dressed up in their suits and gorgeous dresses and just seeing them all have the best time together, it didn’t matter what they had won through the year or what club they were in, they all came together and had the best night - it was fantastic to be a part of.

In terms of what I’ve learned about myself through volunteering, I think the thing that stands out the most for me is how happy the athletes are all the time and just see the best in everyone and everything, so I’ve really tried to bring that into my own life. I also decided to take adult swimming lessons to learn how to swim properly again. Looking at the athletes every year gave me the inspiration and motivation to finally do it for myself so three years ago I bit the bullet, and I haven’t looked back since and now swim regularly. Thank you, guys.

If I could describe my volunteer experience in three words, they would be:

Inspiring, Heartwarming, Transformative.