Children in Hospital Ireland (CHI) has been running for 47 years, has over 450 regular volunteers and logs -on average- 270,000 hospital visits to sick children in Ireland each year. But it's possible you may not have even heard of it.
According to mother and daughter and CHI volunteers, Catriona and Leah Kelly, it's the "best kept secret" in the Irish charity landscape.
Every week Catriona and Leah spend two hours in their local children's hospital playing with the little ones, doing arts and crafts and giving worried parents a break. They joined Ryan Tubridy to put out a call for volunteers, promising that there are "never enough" people who can help.
Bu how challenging is it to be a volunteer? For Leah, there's no question about it. It's her “favourite two hours of the whole week“. Put simply:
"You go in happy and you come out happy".
Joyce phoned in to praise the organisation, saying that when her 7 and 10 year olds were in Temple Street receiving treatment, friendly CHI volunteers "really made a big difference". She now volunteers with the charity herself.
If you're interested in becoming a volunteer with Children in Hospitals Ireland, visit their website here.
Listen to more from The Ryan Tubridy Show here.