Employees' voluntary work recognised

Gerard Campbell, Gregory Simpson, Robert Whoriskey and Shaun Leppard have been honoured by the DuPont Volunteer Recognition programme.

The programme, which was established in 1998, recognises employees or teams of employees who devote their time and talents to improve the quality of life in their communities.

Under the programme DuPont donates $1,000 (about 600) to each organisation for which the honourees volunteer.

Tom Bollaert, DuPont Plant Manager at Maydown, says: “I am very proud of the fact that many of the staff here give some of their spare time to working for clubs, charities and many different kinds of organisations in their communities. The fact that Gregory, Robert, Shaun and Gerard’s work has now been recognised officially by DuPont is the icing on the cake.

“This Volunteering Recognition Programme is just one way in which DuPont encourages its employees to do volunteering work in their communities.”

Gerard Campbell is originally form Lifford, Co Donegal and is now living in Strabane. He has worked for DuPont for nine years and is a manufacturing technician. He volunteers at the Three Rivers Shotokan Karate Club.

The Club has about 80 male and female members and growing. It caters for all age groups from five-years-olds up to seniors. The Club is affiliated to the Karate Union of Ireland and competes at all levels in local Ulster and national all-Ireland competitions.

Gerard is also a keen cyclist, does “a bit of running” having completed the Belfast, Galway and Dublin marathons this year, raising funds for charity in the process. He is also planning to do a charity cycle from Mizen to Malin in June this year in aid of the Foyle Hospice.

Gregory Simpson is from Feeny and is another manufacturing technician at DuPont. He has been with the company since leaving school in 1991. Gregory works with St Mary’s Gaelic Athletic Club Banagher in Feeny. The club has been in existence for 44 years and is the hub of the community in the rural area in which it is situated.

It provides facilities and coaching in camogie, Gaelic football and hurling for age groups from under-8s up to adults. It runs a total of 20 teams in all grades and caters for almost 200 young people. Gregory has played for the club and his county at various levels and was given great support and coaching himself when he was young. Now he is giving his own time to the club and its members, passing on what he was taught.

Robert Whoriskey has been with DuPont for 30 years and is currently working in technical support to the operations groups. Bobby is a ‘second generation’ DuPont employee as his father worked for the company for 25 years.

Bobby lives in Prehen and is one of a group of people who set up Oak Leaf Scullers in his local community. He continues to work as a volunteer with the club which, having started from nothing, now has a clubhouse and permission from Derry City Council to use waterfront land at no cost. Bobby works on fundraising for the club and also supervises the club’s safety and gives a large number of hours each week to coaching club members.

Outside of his work at DuPont and his voluteering at the sculling club Bobby is chairman of the board of governers for Immaculate Conception College and is on the Catholic commision looking at post primary education provision for Derry City.

Bobby says that in all of his volunteering work he finds that the skills which he has gained in DuPont invaluable and along with his personal philosophy of sport and education for all.

Mary McLaughlin’s name has been synonymous with the teaching of Irish dancing. For 50 years she taught dancers the length and breadth of the county of Londonderry. Her nephew, Shaun Leppard, who works as a spinning technician at DuPont and has been with the company for 17 years, has been involved for the past three years in the planning and running of the prestigious Mary McLaughlin Memorial Feis.

In the rest of his spare time Shaun supports his two daughters with their dancing and his two sons in their football.

“I think projects such as the DuPont Volunteering Recognition Programme are very important in keeping us in touch with the communities in which we operate and shows that DuPont doesn’t just pay lip-service to its corporate social responsibilites,” Tom Bollaert concluded.