Working for any charity or voluntary organisation requires limitless patience, immense energy and a zeal for assisting others regardless of their circumstances.
However, it is often easier for people to display these traits when confronting neglect, poverty and dislocation thousands of miles from home, rather than under their noses.
While it would be churlish to crib at the legions of Irish aid workers who have assisted projects in Africa, Asia and South America, sometimes the public gaze those taking on similar work at home.
One such group are the Irish Lions Clubs which are now spread throughout the Republic. Although they may lack the international image of other voluntary organisations, in terms of affecting the lives of ordinary Irish people, their contribution since their establishment in Ireland in 1958 has been huge.
Code of ethics
In an age of often justified cynicism their motto, "We serve", may sound solemn and self-righteous in the ears of some, but the Lions do not ask for any public recognition or congratulation. The Lions' code of ethics includes the aim of encouraging "service-minded people to serve their community without personal financial reward". For the past four decades its members have been doing this here.
Among the work undertaken by the Lions is bringing elderly people out for the day, helping the blind, delivering food parcels to the poor and helping young offenders at the Lions Villa in Chapelizod, Co Dublin.
The organisation was started in the United States by Mr Melvin Jones in 1917. He witnessed the poor from the slums of Chicago being buried in paupers' graves week after week as he collected insurance premiums. The stigma such a final resting place created for the deceased's family drove him to set up the first Lions Club.
Such revulsion at stagnant poverty and social isolation continues to motivate the Lions, and the Irish clubs are among the most active in the Lions' international community.
Because their motives are high-minded, people tend to eye the them suspiciously and ask: "What is in it for you?" As members constantly point out, the Lions Clubs like to practice a form of charity which goes beyond simply dropping a few coins in a box.
Mr James Daly, the current secretary, says: "There is not just material poverty to deal with, there is also the poverty of loneliness and the victims of this are often people who have means."
Among the titans the organisation has thrown up since it arrived here in the 1950s is the retired businessman Mr Hugo Mooney, of Dundrum, Dublin. His trojan work over decades has earned him the respect of his colleagues in the organisation who are used to acts of selflessness.
The Irish Lions recently applied to the International Association of Lions Clubs to secure him a life membership; in view of his 36 years of work, this was granted with pleasure by the world body.
Free Shannon trip
Mr Mooney, a big jovial Northerner, was responsible for one of the Lions' most successful initiatives - the free plane trip to Shannon.
The idea came to him one day as he watched a plane flying over his house. He presumed it was flying to Shannon and that it was mostly empty. "I thought to myself, imagine the number of people over 65 who have never been on a plane in their lives," he said.
After further reflection he approached Aer Lingus with the idea that such older people, without the means to purchase a plane ticket, might be able to take the flight to Shannon at no charge.
Thanks to his admirable ability to gently coax co-operation from people and organisations, Mr Mooney succeeded in getting Aer Lingus to adopt the idea.
The Shannon trip became an permanent feature in the Lions calendar with hundreds of blind and mentally handicapped people given the chance to experience flying and the bustle of travel.
As Mr Mooney points out, it may be a mundane experience for the rest of us, but to those people it represented one of the best days of their lives.
Unlike many charities, the Lions have always shrunk from religious identification, grounding their work in a form of gentle humanism. In addition, they have neither strange handshakes nor archaic bars on female members.
Their lack of a denominational dimension has permitted them to tap the talents and energies of people who might have been put off by overt associations with one church or another.
Their secular structure also allowed the organisation to make a strong gesture in support of peace in Northern Ireland in 1969. Mr Murphy put together a float which stole the show at that year's St Patrick's Day Parade. It included an enormous moon which Mr Mooney obtained from RTE which had used it as a prop in a national song contest.
The RTE broadcaster Liam Nolan recently paid tribute to Mr Mooney. He remembered witnessing his work on the Shannon trip. "I watched a man named Hugo Mooney wrap the arms of another man around his neck before he half-carried, half-hauled him, piggyback style from the door of the aircraft down to the concrete below."
Musical events
The man's name was Jimmy, recollected Mr Nolan, who has had his own direct experience of working with the Lions.
"There was no protest from Jimmy, only grins and gratitude, because you see, Jimmy was a 60-year-old spastic with useless, twisted limbs and this was the first time he'd been back in Co Clare for over 30 years," he recalled.
One of Hugo Mooney's favourite Lion initiatives was his decision to organise musical events for the mentally handicapped, the deaf and dumb and the elderly in 1971.
Once again the gift involved - pop music - was simple, but to people spending much of their time in institutions it meant more than just the surface notes. Mr Mooney was also involved in setting up the well-known Lions Club food appeal, which collects thousands of pounds every year for the needy.