A whopping €35,000 from the recent Flood Aid for Inishowen concert was presented to the Inishowen Red Cross this evening.
The official handover of the money was presented to Red Cross officials at a function in the Bank of Ireland in Letterkenny.
The concert, held in the Aura Centre on September 3 has raised in excess of €36,000 with additional money still to be raised. The first €35,000 was handed over this evening.
A star-studded selection of musicians, including Daniel O’Donnell, played in the concert, organised by Letterkenny business woman Deirdre Grant.
In a message, delivered by video link from Canada, Daniel paid tribute to the organisers.
“Thank u to everyone involved,” he said.
“Deirdre, thank u so much, the committee who helped, to the volunteers, the people at the Aura…thanks to the musicians and crews and to all of the artists who gave of their time. To put all that together in such a short space of time was amazing. I was so pleased and delighted to be a part of it.
“To all the people in Inishowen and the area, hopefully they will benefit somewhat and hopefully they will get back on their feet soon. It was awful, but they are made of good stuff and pease God they’ll be back on their feet soon.”
TV3 personality Noel Cunningham and Phil Mack from Keep It Country hosted the show.
Daniel, Nathan Carter, Declan Nearney, Johnny Brady, Dominic and Barry Kirwan, Jacqui Sharkey and The Conquerors were among the acts who played.
“It was wonderful,” Deirdre Grant said.
“It was madness. If I hadn’t Tracey, Jimmy, Robert, John and Seamus behind me, i couldn’t have done it.
“I remember very little about what happened that Sunday. It was sore legs for five days after it.
“People said it was something very special. Some journalist called it the six-day miracle. It wasn’t me who did it, it was a group of volunteers, people who bought tickets and people who donated prizes. The amount of goodwill that was there helped it to take off.”
Martin McKinney from the Inishowen Red Cross said his team had visited 76 houses and 39 businesses.
“We have continued from the start to make touch with people in their homes and business,” he said.
“We try to support them as best we can. This is a phenomenal amount of money and it will make a difference. We can only try to lighten the load.”
The Chair of the Irish Red Cross, Pat Carey, traveled from Kerry to be in Letterkenny for the handover.
“I want to thank the community in Donegal,” he said.
“We think that our community spirit in Kerry is great, but I have never seen such enthusiasm and vigour. You have left us in the Ha’apenny place. To see the quality of music and the energy in the crowd was just fantastic.
“The floods were devastating and it was just luck that no-one was injured. It will take a while for people to get back into a house they can call a home again.”
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