Mum of the Month - Joanna Pearman

Longford mum Joanna Pearman has volunteered whenever she saw a gap in services and something that needed to be done.  

Mums know better than almost anyone that towns and villages run on volunteers. Whether it’s your neighbour that hosts the local fundraising committee or the woman at school who organizes the Community Games, there is always someone going above and beyond to make sure the extra things are done where you live. 

One such woman is mum of three Joanna Pearman. She relocated to Ardagh in Longford when her children were small and has been volunteering locally for more than a decade. It started out with a mum and toddler group, then the Longford branch of Coder Dojo and the Ardagh Preservation Society. 

Her biggest passion though is for the Girl Guides and through her years she has seen hundreds of girls join the organization. 

“I've been volunteering with the Irish Girl Guides for 13 years. I've been with the Brownies on and off that whole time. I volunteered to be a leader just before my eldest daughter joined so that I would be there before her, and we wouldn’t be new together. 

At that time, we only had the Brownie unit in Ardagh. So when the girls I worked with were old enough to go up to the Guides, I started the Guides unit. I was running both then. That same year, I decided to set up a Ladybirds unit so that my younger daughter could join. I didn’t run that one though, I got a friend to do that. Then I recruited new Brownie leaders so I could focus on the Guides more. I've been mainly doing Guides, but I do go back to Brownies now and then. It's a lovely age to work with, but it is tiring”

Volunteering during Covid wasn’t always easy but Joanna didn’t let the Guides or Brownies fall by the wayside during lockdown. A piano teacher by trade, she had started giving Zoom lessons to two of her students with vulnerable family members very early in the pandemic. When that worked well, she used the same technology for her volunteering. 

“I was giving Zoom piano lessons immediately on March 19 because I actually had two students whose mother was vulnerable. They missed lessons and I was concerned that they would drop behind. I used to volunteer with CoderDojo Longford, and their father was one of the mentors, so I knew he'd have the technical know-how. Between us, we ran a trial, which meant that, come actual real lockdown, I was good to go. Because I was used to doing that, I started running the Guide meetings that way and they were working well online. Then I started doing the Brownies as well online.”

Joanna very clearly loves what she does and her passion for the Irish Girl Guides is infectious. 

“Volunteering with IGG is great fun. The girls are hilarious. There's a set program there full of activities and things that interest girls. It's so broad you know that you can cover all sorts of activities with the girls and what interests you as well. It's like you're your own boss really. As long as you're sticking within the program parameters, it's up to you what you're doing.”

But what makes a volunteer different and want to get involved? For Joanna her move from city life in Dublin to a more rural setting where she didn’t know many people was a large part of it. 

“Am I a pathological volunteer?” Joanna laughs.

“Well, when I had my first daughter Nora-May we were living in Dublin. When she was about 18 months we moved to Longford, my husband is from Granard. I was in sales and marketing, and I stopped working outside the home to raise my children. To go from doing that to being at home is a big change so I volunteered here and there. 

“I ran the toddler group and that was really, really important to me because I didn't know anybody, and it provided a network of moms. Another lady had started it and I took over when her children had aged out, so I kept that going. That's how I had made friends. Then, when my children started school, I was involved in the parents’ association, and we did lots of activities. We did lots of shows. People probably think I'm mad, but we did it. We did lots of things that the school wasn't doing. 

“Then there was the Brownies in Ardagh. It was very funny when I got involved because another woman had been running it for years and was sort of on her own, with any parent that she could rope in with her. Then, when I joined, she left immediately. In fairness to her, she did come back a year later. She just needed a rest.”

Joanna believes that the more you volunteer, the easier it can be because you build up a network of people you can ask to help. Asking is key. Most people don’t often realise that they could be of use but once you ask them directly, they’re very willing to help. 

“You can advertise and advertise. I think people just think that you don't mean them. But if you ask, most people will say yes. Particularly if it’s to do with something that they work at or are interested in. 

“I always say when you volunteer, you can do as little or as much as you want. I do what I do because I like doing it. You might have somebody who loves doing crafts, so they'll just do crafts with the girls. That's fine because that's what they want to do. I have one lady, she doesn't come to meetings, but she does my books. 

“Also, when you're working with volunteers it's also important to respect the fact that people are volunteering and to make sure you give them something to make them feel valued, not just have them turn up and sit in the corner. That's not a good thing.”