World Meeting of Families: Volunteers at heart of preparations

World Meeting of Families: Volunteers at heart of preparations

The countdown is well and truly underway to the World Meeting of Families which will take place in August in Dublin, Ireland.

By Lydia O'Kane

With just 5 months to go to the event, preparations are continuing unabated to make sure everyone who comes to the meeting has the best experience possible.

According to the Communications Manager for the World Meeting of Families, Brenda Drumm everything is going to plan.

“We’re very happy with how preparations are going; we were conscious from the very beginning that we can’t deliver without our wonderful volunteers, so we reckon we will need about 8,000 volunteers”, she said.

Volunteers

Speaking about the positive response they have had from all over the world, Ms Drumm said, “we’re at the stage where we have bookings from over 58 countries for the World Meeting of Families, so we’re really encouraged where we’re at in terms of volunteering, in terms of actual registrations, in terms of group bookings and there’s such good will out there for this event.”

Experiencing Ireland

Ireland is known as the island of Saints and Scholars and noted for its warm welcome. Indeed Dublin itself is no stranger to big gatherings having hosted the 50^th International Eucharistic Congress in 2012.  The Communications Manager noted that Ireland is a big draw for people adding,  “a lot of people are telling us that they are coming because it is taking place in Ireland and because they’ve always wanted to come to Ireland…”

On the subject of a possible Papal visit to Dublin for the meeting, she said, “we’re at the stage where we still haven’t had an official announcement yet around the possibility of Pope Francis being with us for the World Meeting of Families but we know that he chose Dublin, Ireland to be the host of the World Meeting of Families… I think it would be a great joy if we get the official word that we can be with us…”

The World Meeting of Families will take place in Dublin from the 21^st to 26^th August 2018.

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