Killarney

By Michelle Crean
<h3>The original fundraising target was &euro;2,000 &#8211; but local man David Looney smashed that by raising over a whopping &euro;15,000!</h3>
David set up a GoFundMe page &#8216;170 Miles in November in memory of Geraldine&#8217; as a thank you to Kerry Hospice for the care his sister-in-law Geraldine O&#8217;Connor (49) received during her illness. She sadly passed away in November 2021.
He timed the run to conclude on the anniversary of Geraldine&#8217;s death, and went out in all kinds of weather.
For his efforts he managed to raise &euro;15,445. David, who is manager of the popular pub Tatler Jack invited all the O&#8217;Connor clan to the presentation function at the pub before Christmas.
There, Cathal Walshe, PRO of Kerry Hospice, thanked David and everyone who contributed to the venture.
&#8220;It means a lot to the Foundation and as the late Ted Moynihan said &#8220;you hope you will never need the Hospice, but the Hospice will always need you&#8221;,&#8221; Cathal said.
&#8220;I am absolutely delighted and overwhelmed with the amount raised,&#8221; David told the Killarney Advertiser.
&#8220;We had donors from nearly every corner of the world, from Australia to China to America and Canada. I would like to sincerely thank every single donor. Their generosity helped us give a huge thank you to Kerry Hospice and the wonderful staff in the Palliative Care Unit UHK for the amazing care Geraldine received. I would also like to thank local media including Killarney Advertiser and my workplace Tatler Jack (social media) for the support in publicising the fundraiser.
&#8220;Also a huge thank you to Chris Davies from Reboot Recovery for the use of his facilities during the month &#8211; I don&rsquo;t think I would have made it without that place!&#8221;

David's joy as over €15k raised for Kerry Hospice

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