Miriam named Mayo’s Most Inspirational Person

MIRIAM Judge is celebrating after being named Mayo’s Most Inspirational Person at this year’s Gala Retail Inspiration Awards with Virgin Media.

Miriam’s extensive and inspirational work in fundraising and volunteering within the local community earned her the title of Inspirational Person in this year’s awards.

Established four years ago to celebrate individuals who work to create better communities with their selfless acts and inspirational deeds, Gala Retail awarded inspirational people from every county in Ireland, naming county inspirational people who were each gifted €1,000 in Ireland Hotel vouchers.

Miriam really impressed the judges for her work in her local community.

A teacher by day, Miriam has devoted years of dedication towards making a difference in the lives of children with special needs as a result of her many fundraisers, which have seen her collecting thousands of euro.

Last July, she undertook the challenge of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of Down Syndrome Ireland, a charity close to her heart, after she was inspired by her sister Orla, who has Down Syndrome.

In addition, Miriam is also leading the dedicated autism unit in Scoil Iosa, Ballyhaunis, where she teaches, and has been an advocate for improving the standard of special education, having completed further studies to gain a masters degree in this area.

n between all of this, Miriam volunteers locally and internationally with the Special Olympics and gives freely of any spare time she has.

From a huge volume of nominations, 26 county heroes were crowned. Noreen Murphy, from Bantry in County Cork, was named as the Overall Inspirational Person of the Year for her services to mental health with the establishment of Lisheen’s House Suicide Prevention Charity.

According to Gary Desmond, CEO of Gala Retail, choosing the winners was a challenging task.

“We’ve heard some truly inspirational stories from people across Ireland during these awards, which has affirmed something we already knew - that we have so many selfless people carrying out great work in our communities,” he said.

“We were overwhelmed by the level of nominations and Miriam along with the fellow inspirational heroes are true examples of people who are making Ireland a better place.”