The former Mayor of Letterkenny, Cllr Gerry McMonagle has pleaded with people of the town to remain vigilant in the fight against Covid.
The Sinn Fein politician has been on the frontline in his own way over the past three months.
He was one of a number of daily volunteers at the Letterkenny Chef Aid project based out of the Honeypot Restaurant at High Road.
Gerry said he got huge satisfaction from being able to play his part in helping people during the lockdown.
“It really did open my eyes but I got so much out of it. It was a great idea and I was so delighted I took part.
“People really put their shoulder to the wheel and it was a real community initiative, not just in Letterkenny but in many other places around the county.
“It was great to see people and to check on them and of course to be able to give them a hot meal, and just to see if they were okay or needed anything.”
Gerry said the reaction from the public to the idea really made getting up and taking part even more worthwhile.
“You could see the happiness on people’s faces when you called to their homes. Many of them might not have received many visitors throughout the day.
“It was so satisfying and all we were doing was giving them some of our time but that is all they wanted. I can’t tell you how much I got from that and I know the other volunteers did too,” he added.
Most of the county began to open up from Monday last with many shops pulling up their shutters once more in an attempt to get back to some normality.
The gentle build-up of traffic on Letterkenny’s feeder roads onto the Main Street was a real indicator that people are coming back out once more.
Cllr McGonagle said he was delighted to see that some businesses are back trading once again.
However, he sounded a cautious note that things cannot go back to normal just yet.
“I was in and around the town and I have to say that the shopowners are acting very responsibly with hand sanitisation and the numbers of people being allowed into shops.
“But shops and restaurants and other businesses can only be as good as their customers.
“So I would appeal to people to work with business owners and not to hang around the shops. Plan your trips and get in and get out.
“That way we’ll all help to get over this and try and get our lives back to normality again,” he said.
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