A Donegal man has helped raise almost €10,000 for aid funds by Making Waves For Palestine.
The Making Waves For Palestine event saw over 150 people from across Ireland make the trip up to Donegal to take a dip in the sea at the beach in Downings.
Paddy Browne, from Letterkenny and now living in Glen, organised the fundraiser to raise awareness of the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza.
“I feel like with what’s going on, a lot of people have their heads in the sand. I wanted to do something to represent all the Donegal people that do care, also all the people from around Ireland who wanted to show support.”
“(It was) not only to raise money – but maybe if there are people who don’t know how bad it is over there, sometimes it can help people to lift their heads and see what’s going on over there – a genocide.”
With over €9,600 raised for two charities – Fund a Food Drop and Medical Aid for Palestinians – Paddy, also known as “The Viking Dipper” says it was amazing to see the solidarity shown during the fundraiser.
“It was a powerful and uplifting experience to see the solidarity.”
“I didn’t expect as many people to come, with these things you don’t know how they will turn out – especially when asking people to enter the cold Donegal waters!”
His fundraising efforts were also aided with the help of a surprise celebrity involvement, as former Geordie Shore star and I’m A Celeb winner Vicky Pattison offered her support.
Paddy says that Vicky had noticed some of his work and wanted to get involved and help with the next big fundraising project.
“Vicky reached out to me a few months (ago), saying that she was proud of the work I was doing.”
“She said – ‘I wanna get involved Paddy, what can I do? You do an event and I’ll come over – Make Waves For Palestine and Steps For Peace'”.
Sadly a serious illness meant that Vicky was unable to travel for the event over the weekend, but Paddy thanked her for giving him extra motivation to push on and raise money for those that needed it in Palestine.
“On the day she messaged me, (it) was a day where I felt all I was doing was shouting into the void.”
“I saw a message from Vicky and it lifted me and pushed me on, that I can lift people’s spirits and push them, (tell them) that their voice is beyond heard.”
For Paddy, after last weekend’s events, he says he will charge up the batteries before doing another such event – and hopes these fundraisers won’t be needed in future.
“I would love to think there wouldn’t need to be anything else done, but the way things are every single day it’s getting worse and worse.”
“For now, with all the effort involved from myself and the people who travel to these things… I think we are gonna have a break and a recharge before we do anything else.”
You can still donate to Paddy’s GoFundMe campaign here: https://gofund.me/f294b460