Burnfoot family raise €11,315 in aid of The Donegal Hospice

The Mc Laughlin family would like to thank everyone who purchased a copy of the Christmas CD, ‘An Spideog’, made a donation, or offered a kind word of encouragement.

Local musician and daughter of Helen, Edel recorded an instrumental album of Christmas tunes at Drumdubh Studios in Burtonport with Joe Rodgers as sound engineer and guitarist on the CD.

“We are so grateful to Joe who gave tirelessly of his time, patience and talents to bring this album together,” she says.

The album was launched on December 9th at a fundraising concert in The Halfway House, Burnfoot. “We have so many people to thank for helping to make this event happen. We are especially grateful to The Henry Girls, and all of the local artists for taking time out of their busy schedules to be with us on the night. A huge thank you to Martin Gallagher and all of the crew at The Halfway House for the use of such a beautiful venue, to Noel Boylan on sound, and to Marcas O Murchú, who was MC on the night. Thanks also to all of our extended family who helped with ticket sales and the raffle.

“We had two aims with our fundraiser: 1. to raise awareness about the hospice & the facilities they provide, 2. to raise funds to support this brilliant charity. We were genuinely overwhelmed by the level of support which continued long after our concert, and well into the new year. We hope that these funds will help many more families during their hour of need.

“We were very pleased to present the final sum of €11,315 to the staff at The Donegal Hospice recently. We know that these funds will be used to provide palliative care including equipment (e.g. syringe driver), home help, and night nursing to the people of Co. Donegal. The hospice is such a special place, and the atmosphere there is really calm. Although we were scared to begin with, we met the staff and they listened to our story with compassion and care. Mum stayed at the hospice for two and a half weeks. It became our home during that time, and we took turns of staying the nights with mum. We were delighted to present the funds raised to two very special ladies - May and Pauline.

"May recognised mum’s name immediately when she came in. Mum had delivered her first baby girl back in 1999 in Altnagelvin hospital in Derry. May gave birth to her daughter Emily just before the millennium. She recalled mum’s kindness and produced a beautiful letter mum had written to her as a thank you note for a gift May have given to her. We were shocked and delighted to see the letter, which May insisted on giving back to our family. This meant a lot to us. The letter is now framed and the story has been shared many times.

"Pauline also offered kind words of support during mum’s stay, and crocheted five red hearts for our family to take home with us. Dad continues to place the heart under his pillow at night, and this has helped us to keep mum’s memory alive. Pauline kindly stayed with us after mum passed away, even though her 12 hour shift had finished. We are forever grateful to her, to May, and to all of the staff at The Donegal Hospice.

"Finally, we would like to thank Highland Radio, RTÉ Radio na Gaeltachta, and the local press. A special word of thanks to all of our sponsors for the event with generous prizes from: Silver Birch Gallery from Sharon Mc Daid, Carndonagh, (€250 voucher) An original graphite print from local artist Terry Tedstone, Transform Gym, Burnfoot, Neal Doherty Jewellers & Gift Shop, Carndonagh, Harbour Inn, Lisfannon, The Foot Inn, Burnfoot, Doherty’s Cafe, Bridgend, Bradley’s Service Station, Fahan, Bonny & Bold, Burnfoot, Inishowen Gateway Hotel, The Lake of Shadows, Buncrana, Gallagher’s Butcher’s, Bakery & Deli, Strabane, Scarpello & Co. Bakery House & Pizza, Derry, Burnfoot Service Station, Food Guru, Burnfoot, Hegarty’s, Buncrana, Gap Coffee Co., Bridgend, Hair by Steve, Fahan, The Halfway Stores, Barber’s shop, Bridgend, Gill’s Off Licence, Buncrana. Finally, we would really like to thank everyone who helped to sell copies of the CD. A sincere word of thanks to Coreen Robinson, Bernadette Brennan, Neal Doherty Jewellers, Carndonagh, Sinéad’s Gift Shop, Clonmany, Mac’s bookshop, Buncrana and Veritas in Letterkenny. A special word of thanks to Isobel at the hospice for speaking on the night on behalf of the hospice. We hope that we have not left anyone out, and we are very grateful to everyone who has supported us on this journey. Thank you all so much.”

The Donegal Hospice opened 21 years ago in February 2003 and since then the services “have been in great demand from people throughout the county”, the official hospice site states, adding: “More recently, the service has been expanded with the introduction of Hospice Day Care. This is an initiative designed to provide shorter periods of palliative care. Volunteers continue to provide complementary therapies to all residents, whether short term or long term. The welcome appointment of two additional sisters to the homecare team now brings to seven the number of nursing sisters working in this area.

“Day running of the hospice and the hospice support movement works in partnership with the HSE. The support group, Donegal Hospice Ltd, is responsible for providing up to 20% of the annual running cost of the facility at Knocknamona and this is quite a challenge to meet every year. As a registered charity, we also assist with the cost of homecare and bear the expense of all the specialist equipment that the medical staff require.”