I am 37 years old and live in Townsend St. Dublin 2. I am a deputy store manager in Lidl and work in the Rathmines store. I love my job but unfortunately I am injured at the moment & not in work which gives me plenty of spare time. I am a Mum to two wonderful sons, who are 18 & 19, also my third child otherwise known as husband/Dad. My boys are always hungry and every time they enter the kitchen the rummaging commences, along with the cries for instant feeding but I wouldn’t have it any other way. We have three pets, a dog named scrappydoo who is nearly 14 and loves to howl, an iguana named Jubjub and a Chinese water dragon named Julio.

I worked long hours up until last year which meant my spare time was spent with my family and close friends. My recent increase in spare time gave me the opportunity to spend time thinking of ways to do something in the community and I started the process of reaching out to my neighbours.

Why I’m hosting a Street Feast

Our community is a local authority apartment complex and is home to young and old and everything in between. My neighbours Angela, Eamon, Paddy, Aileen, Bernard and myself have very recently decided to set up a committee and the Street Feast will be our first community project. We hope to be able to enhance our surroundings and bring us all closer together.

We have decided to apply for the 1916 commemoration fund from Dublin City Council as our next project and next year we hope to have an event that will include the wider community to commemorate events that took place all around our community.

What I find most challenging

The most challenging part is connecting with people and encouraging them to participate but from the response that we have received so far I am very hopeful that it will be reasonably successful.

What I’m best at

I love meeting people and talking which is a talent as well as a hindrance sometimes.

What I love about my community

I love that our community is so central and filled with lots of talented and interesting people. We even have a neighbour who is going to DJ our Street Feast.

You can contact Claire on Changex.org if you would like to learn more about her Street Feast.

Every week we introduce one of our #ChangeX100 starters to you. If you would like to join the challenge and start an idea from ChangeX.org in your community, you can justexplore our social innovations, pick the one you love and get started. We will give you all the support you need.