August 23, 2021
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I hadn’t previously heard of VSI. I’d done various volunteering and fundraising activities over the years back home in Monaghan and up in Dublin but hadn’t crossed paths with the organisation. It was on Boardmatch that I first became aware of VSI. The more I learned about the organisation the more I realised that not just did our values align, but also that they already had a connection to my home in Ballybay, Co. Monaghan. One of VSI’s earliest projects was restoration work on the Ulster Canal in Monaghan. Moving forward to today, they also work with the Camphill community in Ballybay. Something I’d been blissfully unaware of despite spending the guts of 20 years of my life in the town. But many years later, with a little bit of luck, here I was crossing paths with it.
Another piece of good luck of mine, and of my generation, is to be born in the most peaceful time in recorded human history. That’s not to say that there is no war or hardship in the world. Nor to say that we don’t take steps backwards. But the arc of the moral universe does indeed appear to be bending in the right direction.
The flip side of this relative peace and safety, is that it can breed complacency. Peace is not a given. It is something that needs protecting and nurturing. And it is my hope that VSI can play some role in helping promote and foster peace, and the conditions required in order for it to sustain and grow.
A large portion of my time with VSI has been shaped by the pandemic. While it has curtailed some of our original plans it has given us time to assess our future direction and how we want to work towards our mission of promoting peace, social justice and sustainable development through volunteering. I’m excited by the path ahead of us and hope that we can continue to play our part across the island of Ireland and abroad.
(VSI 2021 AGM - Liam is second last row, middle image)
Liam Keenan has been a Board member of VSI since 2019. He studied Management Science and Information Systems Studies at Trinity College Dublin. His career has spanned a number of sales, strategy, and general management roles in technology companies in Ireland, the UK, Singapore, and Japan. He is currently the Head of Commercial Operations at Irish company Tines, who are revolutionising the automation space for companies across the world.