Rathdowney woman celebrates 70 with charity parachute jump

Rathdowney woman Gina O’Loughlin has decided to celebrate her 70th birthday in style- by parachuting out of a plane for charity.

Mrs O’Loughlin is well known throughout Laois for her involvement in various charitable organisations and campaigns, including Meals on Wheels in Rathdowney, and Portlaoise Action To Homelessness (PATH).

Having first become involved with PATH in 2018, Mrs O’Loughlin regularly volunteers with the charity, and has ran successful fundraising events in the past.

Mrs O’Loughlin will turn 70 on December 20, and decided to ring in her birthday with a daring parachute jump in aid of PATH.

“I was looking for something special to do for my birthday, and I was inspired by PATH Treasurer Irene Redmond,” Mrs O’Loughlin explained.

“Irene had done something similar the year before, and I decided I’d do it to raise money for PATH,” she said.

Mrs O’Loughlin was originally supposed to undertake the jump on September 15, but the plane was kept grounded due to technical issues. Having rescheduled to Sunday September 22, Mrs O’Loughlin was once again prevented from undertaking the jump due to poor weather conditions.

“I had psyched myself up for the jump and I had friends and family travel from around the country to see me, so I was a bit disappointed that it couldn’t go ahead,” she said.

“I’m now booked in for November 9, so I’m hoping it will be third time lucky!”.

Pictured: Mrs O'Loughlin will undertake the parachute jump on November 9.

Originally a Murphy from Kilcoke, Mrs O’Loughlin is well known throughout Laois, and has been overwhelmed with support for her fundraiser.

“I can’t believe the response so far,” she said.

“There are people coming in the door with €50 each to me. So far I’ve raised around €1,200, and I’ve never asked people for a penny,” she said.

“All of the fundraising has been through word of mouth. Even the knitting club here were excited about it and donated €50 from their funds, along with members separately themselves,” she said.

Mrs O’Loughlin said that the classmates of her youngest grandchildren Ailish and Jake have been doubting that their Nanny will be jumping out of a plane, with Jake explaining that she ‘won’t even need a parachute’.

“I thought I’d love to be up there floating with the clouds,” Mrs O’Loughlin said.

“I’ve done the skyline walk in Croke Park, and the tree walk in Rathdrum. My sisters came with me, and I left my sister Irene a third of the way up, and I left Myrtle nearly halfway up. I was waving down to them from the top!” she said.

Pictured: Mrs O'Loughlin has received fantastic support for her fundraiser so far. Photo: Pixabay

“Members of my family have done skydives abroad, and when I was deciding to do it I had asked them, they all said it was brilliant.”

Mrs O’Loughlin has ran several previous fundraisers that have done very well, including one for Portlaoise's Cuisle Centre in 2012. She raised over €2,000 in memory of her mother Gladys Murphy.

Mrs O’Loughlin delivers Meals on Wheels around Rathdowney every Friday, and volunteers with PATH on Wednesdays and Fridays. She usually travels to Dublin with PATH once a month.

“I’ll be going the next two Wednesday nights, those nights are harder to get volunteers,” she said.

“I remember the first night I volunteered with PATH on the streets of Dublin. You would see the homeless on the streets when you’re out and about up there, and you’d want to go up and help them,” she said.

“It was so strange to be standing making someone a cup of tea on O’Connell bridge, I came home so delighted. It was a brilliant feeling, knowing you were helping people. It was one of my favourite nights ever!” she said.

Pictured: Gina O'Loughlin.

“Before Covid, we would use trolleys to hand out food and essentials to people sleeping in doorways. Most of them were happy with just a chat,” she explained.

“Now we have a bag night where we work out of the back of the van, and then we have a table night where we set up tables with food on Grafton street,” Mrs O’Loughlin said. 

“I’m so delighted with what the parachute jump is raising for PATH, any little helps at all,” she said.

There is no online GoFundMe for the jump. Those who wish to donate should contact Gina at any date on (087) 245 4722.