CLARE Youth Service has been at the forefront of responding to the challenges faced by young people as a result of the onset of Covid-19. Now its efforts and those of its summer camp leaders has resulted in their winning the online Covid Community Responder award at this week’s Creative Techfest.
With the changed environment last spring, CYS moved rapidly to ensure accessibility of its services for young people across a variety of new platforms but one of the greatest challenges was how to ensure the continuation of the long-established summer camps which have achieved such a significant place in the lives of local young people.  
Working with Techspace’s Leigha Dugdale, a group of young people came together to create an online experience for young people in the absence of a traditional in-person summer camp experience. Learning new skills in online journalism and training techniques, they worked with CYS youth workers to create instructional videos, songs and activities to recreate the summer camp experience online.
To honour their digital creativity and dedication to the process they were nominated for the Techfest 2020 Online Responder Award that honours the work young people ,volunteers and youth-workers completed to deliver services to young people over lockdown.
The work was make possible and supported by Limerick Clare Education Training Board Summer Work Programme and also through the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth – UBU programme.
Clare Youth Service CEO, Margaret Slattery, paid tribute to the young people involved, “Covid has been a massive challenge for us all but the creativity and energy of this group was brought to bear on the challenge they faced and a great result ensued. This was a great collaborative effort between our staff, our young people and our partners”
CYS Youth Worker, Thomas O’ Hara says, “This  programme was a countywide effort including young people from Ennis, Kilrush and Shannon. We are very proud of the work they have put in and delighted that they have won this award”.
They weren’t the only ones taking part with the Shannon Makerspace and Shannon Music Project also being nominated for awards.