Cork heroes honoured at awards

Joanne O’Riordan, Cork Penny Dinners and the Union Hall community were all honoured at the weekend at the 2012 People of the Year Awards, organised by Rehab and broadcast live on RTÉ One television from the Citywest Hotel, Dublin.

Joanne was named Young Person of the Year for her determination in highlighting the challenges faced by people with disabilities, Union Hall won the Community Group of the Year award for the community spirit demonstrated at a time of great tragedy and pain, and Cork Penny Dinners won a People of the Year Award for providing food and warmth for those in need in Cork over the past 100 years. 

16-year-old Joanne O’Riordan from Millstreet was born with total amelia syndrome, leaving her without arms and legs. In fact, she is one of just seven people in the world with the condition. She also has scoliosis, or curvature of the spine. In April, Joanne was invited to New York to deliver the keynote address at the United Nations International Telecommunication Union’s conference, Girls in Technology. Joanne was presented with her award at the prestigious honours event by singer Niall Breslin, AKA Bressie. 

Cork Penny Dinners, the city’s oldest independent caring charity, each week offers over 1,000 nourishing midday meals to people who drop by. It traces its origins to the soup kitchens run by the Society of Friends (Quakers) at the time of the Great Famine in the 1840s. Today, people pay what they can afford for food, whether it’s one cent or €1. The award was presented by well-known TV star Rachel Sarah Murphy (Jo from RTÉ's Fair City).

In the face of great tragedy Union Hall brought everyone together after the tragedy of the Tit Bonhomme which ran aground on 15 January of this year and in which five men lost their lives. Over the following four weeks of the search and showed true community spirit in providing unstinting physical and emotional support to those affected. The award was presented by celebrated actor Jeremy Irons, who lives in nearby Kilcoe. 

Angela Kerins, Chief Executive, Rehab, congratulated the winners saying: “Since coming up with the concept of the People of the Year Awards 38 years ago, Rehab has been proud to play a central role in celebrating the remarkable achievements of people each year and to shine a light on those whose extraordinary deeds might otherwise go unknown. They show us that with determination, hard work and dedication, almost anything is possible.”