Mayo woman Gena Heraty arrived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 1993 and almost three decades later is known all over Haiti for challenging prejudice against people with physical and intellectual disabilities. Gena is the Coordinator of the Special Needs programme with Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs (NPFS), a home for orphaned and abandoned children. Gena’s team has developed an outreach programme which provides education for over 100 school children with neurological disorders while approximately 80 patients a day (or 30,000 a year) receive physical therapy treatments. Gena is the co-founder of the Kay Christine home for children with special needs at NPFS which has created services to ensure children with special needs are not abandoned. Conditions are challenging, and Gena has faced a vicious attack by armed men, where one of her colleagues was killed.

Sister Stanislaus Kennedy is an Irish Sister of Charity who has been on the frontline of social innovation for almost sixty years. Sr Stan founded a number of voluntary organizations, including Young Social Innovators and the Sanctuary. In 1985 she established Focus Ireland while in 2001 she founded The Immigrant Council of Ireland.

In the 1960s Sr Stan was active in developing Kilkenny Social Services and with Bishop Peter Birch pioneered many new initiatives resulting in a social work model which was used as a blueprint by many others. In 1970, Sr Stan co-founded the School of Education, Kilkenny, providing the first professional training for residential childcare workers in Ireland and in 1974 was appointed first chair of the Combat Poverty Agency. Sr Stan is also a meditation teacher and author.

Galway nurse Vivien Lusted has worked for the Irish Red Cross for over 14 years on overseas missions in some of the world’s toughest armed conflicts, including Iraq, Israel, Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Myanmar. Vivien was recently presented with the Florence Nightingale Medal by President Michael D. Higgins which is the highest distinction a Red Cross Red Crescent nurse can achieve. The nomination for this award centred around Vivien’s 18-month mission in Iraq where she worked as a detention nurse. The International Committee of the Red Cross was among the first humanitarian organisations on the ground in the aftermath of the conflict in Mosul.

As a reporter for the Irish Independent and Herald, Ian Begley has covered an extensive range of humanitarian issues, from the upsurge of homeless people in Ireland to the Syrian refugee crisis. Over the past three years, he has travelled at home and abroad to give vulnerable people a national platform to tell their stories. In September 2019, Ian visited Kenya to cover the escalating drought crisis, which is threatening the survival of tens of thousands of families in the north-west region of the country. He has also travelled to numerous refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Athens to document the lives of families who have fled war-torn Syria.

Sally Hayden is a journalist and photographer who focuses on conflict, migration and humanitarian crises. She has reported across Europe, the Middle East and Africa for outlets including the BBC, The Irish Times, TIME, CNN, Al Jazeera and The New York Times. Sally’s investigation into the arrest and torture of refugees returning to regime-held parts of Syria won first prize in the 2018 European Migration Media Awards. Her investigation into corruption in the UN Refugee Agency in Sudan led to a staff member being found guilty of abuse of power and soliciting bribes. For over a year, Sally has been in daily contact with refugees in Libyan detention centres, who use hidden phones to send evidence of human rights abuses.

Sorcha Pollak is a journalist with The Irish Times. She specialises in immigration issues for the paper along with general news coverage and also writes the New to the Parish series which she has brought together in a book – Stories of Love, War and Adventure from Ireland’s Immigrants. Sorcha is the only journalist in the country devoting a significant portion of the working week to covering migrant issues, helping to keep them prioritised on the political agenda. She has been recognised with a Justice Media Award by the Law Society of Ireland for her work tracking a Wicklow community as they prepared for the arrival of a family from Syria. Sorcha has also reported from Honduras, India and Jordan in recent years for The Irish Times.

Kerry teenager Donal Walsh touched the hearts of the nation when he came to prominence through his writings and appearance on Brendan O’Connor’s The Saturday Night Show. While Donal battled cancer he became very aware of the effect his illness was having on his family and friends. Donal’s experience of fighting to live spurred him on to address, publicly, an issue which he was in a very unique position to comment on: teenage suicide.

The #LiveLife Foundation was set up after Donal died, to promote his anti-suicide message and to fundraise. Donal found there were not enough facilities in hospices, in terms of teenage mental health and faith, both of which were a big part of Donal’s life. Donal’s Foundation has now raised and distributed €500,000 to help develop these facilities. Donal also worked tirelessly and raised €65,000 for the children’s hospital in Crumlin.

Jessie Dolliver, 22, is a Trinity scholar in Botany, a Masters’ student and an environmental activist. Jessie’s humanitarian activity started in her teenage years when she began working in Cork Penny Dinners which serves up to 2,000 freshly-made meals for free every week.

During her time in Trinity, Jessie was the chair of Trinity’s Enviornmental and Botanical societies, editor of the Trinity News’ Science and Technology section, and co-founded several activist groups: the All-Ireland Student Activist Network, Not Here Not Anywhere and Aramark Off Our Campus.

Jessie also co-founded Fossil Free TCD, a campaign which requested that Trinity College Dublin and its subsidiaries divest completely from fossil fuel companies. This means selling existing stocks, bond or investment funds and freezing any new investments, direct or otherwise in coal, oil or gas and to withdraw said investments over a five-year period.

TCD Plastic Solutions is a student organization aimed at eliminating single-use plastic from the Trinity College Dublin campus. Its efforts, which included a petition, led to Trinity in May 2018 committing to completely phase out single-use plastics, with a two-year plan.

The first year of TCD Plastic Solutions in 2018 saw The Perch Cafe introduce compostable coffee cups and a 40c discount on hot drinks with a reusable cup while the Pav became the first student bar in Ireland to introduce a reusable cup deposit scheme. TCD Plastic Solutions also collaborated with the Student Union (SU) to source and sell low-cost reusable water bottles and Keep-Cups in the SU shops. The Buttery also introduced compostable water and coffee cups.

Austin Campbell is founder of My Streets Ireland which trains people who are homeless to become walking tour guides of their own city. My Streets runs three-month training courses focused on confidence and presentation skills, creative writing, research and tour guiding, and offers graduates the opportunity to become paid tour guides. All of the My Streets Ireland guides have experienced or are experiencing homelessness and they understand the streets that run through our towns and cities better than anyone else. The aim of the programme is to help the guides to educate the public about their lives and to foster empathy. My Streets Ireland has attracted 12,000 customers to date. Austin is also director of Robert Emmet CDP a community development project which gives voice and opportunity to the underserved in south west inner city Dublin.

The founders of The Rapid Foundation believe that real impact comes from giving those in need the education and tools to grow and innovate around their problems rather than trying to create solutions for them.

Since 2014, the Rapid Foundation has given people around the world access to disruptive technologies, particularly 3D printing (by sending the hardware and providing the training), thereby enabling those in need to create physical solutions to their problems. This has seen an orphanage in India create its own educational toys for kids and the production of low-cost 3D printed prosthetic hands for children in Ireland. The Rapid Foundation has reached 5,000 people already.

The co-founders have been named a Forbes’ 30 under 30 for Europe in Science and Healthcare (Colin Keogh) and one of JCI’s Ten Outstanding Young People for 2017 (Shane Keaveney).

Mugshot is a coffee cart which sells coffee and pastries outside Dublin’s courts and is staffed by baristas who are former prisoners. This social enterprise was set up to help those who had been in prison get back into the workforce. It was established on the basis of feedback from prisoners who said they wanted to work with customers services in sales, and work towards being able to open their own business. Mugshot provides these people with work experience and the opportunity to secure a referee for their next job. Mugshot was founded by Prisoners Aid through Communty Effort (PACE) and the Mugshot cart was built in PACE’s metal shop in Santry by some of those who now work in it.

Aviva focuses on making a difference that is relevant to the everyday lives of their customers and their local communities. Aviva employees chose Pieta House as Aviva Ireland’s charity partner from 2016 to March 2018 and in 2017 alone, Aviva raised just over €111,245 for Pieta House. Aviva provides match funding and three company days per year for employees to encourage them to contribute their time, skills, funds and passion within local communities. In 2017, 721 employees volunteered a total of 3,871.5 hours. In 2017, Aviva also supported another 46 charities through a range of different activities which included skill-sharing, redecorating a room/garden or baking a cake.

Amgen uses cutting-edge science and technology to study the subtlest biological mechanisms in search of therapies that will improve the lives of those who suffer from serious diseases. The main vehicle for Amgen’s corporate philanthropy and corporate social responsibility is the Amgen Foundation which seeks to advance excellence in science education, inspire and prepare the next generation of innovators and strengthen communities where Amgen staff members live and work. In Ireland, the Amgen Foundation has contributed €600,000 to advancing science education and over 53,000 students have been reached as part of Amgen Teach, Amgen Biotech Experience and Amgen Scholars programmes. Amgen Dun Laoghaire also supports their local community with grants and support funding of €80,000 per year for local charities and community projects proposed by their staff.

Fleming Medical is a medical supplier based in Limerick and have been corporate partners with the Irish Red Cross for over 10 years. In the past decade, Fleming Medical has supported the Irish Red Cross with medical equipment including free responder bags for the entire ambulance fleet and Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs). For every minute an AED is delayed, there is a 5-10% reduction in survival. Fleming Medical’s donation of AEDs and other equipment means the company has been instrumental in helping the Irish Red Cross volunteers save lives. The same equipment has also supported Irish Red Cross volunteers’ first aid training. Fleming Medical also runs Medicare First Aid Training workshops in pharmacies all over Ireland with the use of the Irish Red Cross trainers network and to date, over 2,000 people have been trained via this service.

Fleming Medical is a medical supplier based in Limerick and have been corporate partners with the Irish Red Cross for over 10 years. In the past decade, Fleming Medical has supported the Irish Red Cross with medical equipment including free responder bags for the entire ambulance fleet and Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs). For every minute an AED is delayed, there is a 5-10% reduction in survival. Fleming Medical’s donation of AEDs and other equipment means the company has been instrumental in helping the Irish Red Cross volunteers save lives. The same equipment has also supported Irish Red Cross volunteers’ first aid training. Fleming Medical also runs Medicare First Aid Training workshops in pharmacies all over Ireland with the use of the Irish Red Cross trainers network and to date, over 2,000 people have been trained via this service.

Fleming Medical is a medical supplier based in Limerick and have been corporate partners with the Irish Red Cross for over 10 years. In the past decade, Fleming Medical has supported the Irish Red Cross with medical equipment including free responder bags for the entire ambulance fleet and Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs). For every minute an AED is delayed, there is a 5-10% reduction in survival. Fleming Medical’s donation of AEDs and other equipment means the company has been instrumental in helping the Irish Red Cross volunteers save lives. The same equipment has also supported Irish Red Cross volunteers’ first aid training. Fleming Medical also runs Medicare First Aid Training workshops in pharmacies all over Ireland with the use of the Irish Red Cross trainers network and to date, over 2,000 people have been trained via this service.