It began with a road trip around Ireland; just two guys, the open road and a whole island to explore. Open eyed and open hearted they toured the country, observing, listening, getting in touch with its diversity, its heartbeat.  These were the beginnings of Project 32.

Hope for a nation

 ‘Youth for Christ’ (YFC) is behind the initiative which has the vision to see 32 teams sent out, one to each of the 32 counties for a week during summer 2010 to serve local communities.  The road-trippers had come back with such an overwhelming sense of the potential that was out there.  They couldn’t shake the sense that there were so many people out there who needed help and support. And they saw this idea of parallel teams reaching into every county of Ireland as historic.

Sixty-four leaders and 320 volunteers will be recruited from across Ireland and from around the world. The teams will then spend time being trained in Dublin before getting to work on the ground from July 22nd-August 3rd.  

N.I Project coordinator Judith Cairns says they’re seeking to look at the big and small picture:  “We’re all about serving the local community whether it’s through kids work, youth work or practical acts of kindness.  It is a full picture, as we also want to really engage the people of the area in prayer.

“I guess it’s about building relationships in the community… having that investment in an area, opening their eyes to what is possible and making new connections.”

“We believe it’s really significant that it’s all happening at the same time… we hope it will create a real energy as a whole lot of wee dots on the map work at the same time.”

As well as inspiring volunteers to sign up to the initiative, YFC also need locations within each county to catch the vision and get themselves on board, as Judith explains: “The last thing we want to do is parachute a team in. We want the locations to use the teams to generate interests and contacts… to kickstart something new.  This is really for places that have a heart, but just not the manpower.”

So if you’re captured by the spirit of Project 32 then why not check out their website (www.projectthirtytwo.com) and consider signing up.  It began with a road-trip but may just end with a nation being touched by God.