College VLM Casino Night Fundraiser

The Union is delighted to support the Casino Fun night in aid of the College Development Programme Ambo, Ethiopia.

It's an ideal opportunity for any passing through Dublin that week-end to have a great night out with friends, colleagues and fellow past men, whilst helping College students finance their Ambo Ethiopian project. Contact Paul Hunt on [email protected] to buy tickets. Paul is a teacher at Castleknock College and will travel to Ethiopia this summer with a group of 5th year students from the College.

There will be lots of fun on the night including Blackjack, roulette, an auction, raffle and more! With your ticket you'll get a $1000 to bet and you'll have the option to buy back in if you lose it all on red. The raffle will have lots of great prizes and you'll be able to use your hard won chips at the end of the night to bid for your preferred prize. The bar is open late till 1pm.

Come try your luck and win a buck!

YOUNG VINCENTIAN MISSION TO ETHIOPIA

Inaugurated in 2008, the Young Vincentian Mission offers Fifth Year students and teachers an opportunity to spend 2-3 weeks working and living with the Vincentian community in Ambo, Ethiopia each July. The venture is overseen by the Vincentian Lay Missionaries (VLM) who interview student applicants for the ‘Summer Immersion’ work.
Successful applicants engage in a range of voluntary work in Ambo including teaching in the local Vincentian school, working in the Vincentian Food Programme, the Vincentian School for the Deaf and coaching Ambo United FC.
Students are required to raise sufficient funds to meet their travel and subsistence expenses and events are organised within and without the College to raise funds for the Castleknock College Development Programme in Ambo. This Development Programme has enabled the construction of expanded education facilities as well as the provision of medical and food supplies to those who wish to avail of the aid provided by the Vincentian community in Ambo.

The Young Vincentian Mission is coordinated by the College Chaplain, Fr. John Gallagher CM and a team of volunteers from the teaching staff.

THE TONE IS SET.

The Vincentian Charisma in Education expresses itself in the value and worth of each member of the family. At all times we show not simply a respect for the other but like in any family a certain reverence to each other. The free opportunity to grow up to be young men academically, socially and spiritually sound and without hindrance. At the heart and Core of being Vincentian we are always drawn to speak and act for Social Justice, a strong rejection of discrimination of any kind and a deep love for the poor or those who suffer as Christ taught us. The St. Vincent de Paul Society in the College which has always been strong sees especially our fourth year students daily going to St. Peter's Vincentian club in Phibsborough to help feed an average of eighty older people and also to visit our asylum Centre. More going to St. Vincent's Centre on the Navan road to play football with young men with special needs, others to St. Joseph's Centre in Clonsilla to visit the special and wonderful women who live there. And finally others to Cherry Orchard.

Young people love any challenge and perhaps one of the biggest challenges is presented to those who after interview are chosen to go on our Vincentian Lay Mission (VLM) to Ethiopia each summer. We have established a strong link with our Vincentian brothers and sisters in a place called Ambo about one and a half hours drive from Adis Ababa. In one large compound there are three distinct missions. A development programme for people who suffer from leprosy, a further development programme for those who are hard of hearing or deaf And finally a school which looks after the educational needs of children many who are orphaned. Both our students and teachers spend much of their time teaching English. The school is primitive, no paper, Biro's, blackboards. It is possible to have up to one hundred and twenty students in only one class. The children like any others have a beautiful and simple nature about them. They are eager to learn. The poverty is well noticed. Home for most people is a one room house where the whole family live. Electricity happens sometimes for maybe two hours in the evening! It is not predictable. Clean water is always a problem. The average wage daily for a labourer is about one Euro. One Euro feeds a family of five daily. Ten Euro treats the disease of leprosy for a week. The yearly budget for the hard of hearing or deaf project for this year was seven thousand Euro. It is wonderful to think that our students paid in whole for this programme over the past year. We also contributed a little to other projects. Castleknock comes to Ambo and in a much more refreshing way Ambo comes to Castleknock. All of this happens with thanks to the result of so many young men in the college fund-raising in the most inventive ways throughout the year.