Bereaved Laois family raise over €22,000 for charity

A Laois family have raised over €22,000 for the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust, in thanks for help after a beloved member died in New Zealand.

The Trust gave thanks to the family for their "magnificent" donation.

"Many thanks to the McDonald family, Mountmellick, for raising a magnificent €22,160 for the Trust in memory of a beloved son and brother, David."

David McDonald's family from Derrydavey, Mountmellick, held a fundraiser in Moloney's Bar, Mountmellick on Saturday, May 10, with live music, a barbecue and a huge raffle with many donated prizes. They also held an online fundraiser, since closed after gathering nearly €13,000.

It was all in thanks to the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust, an Irish charity that had covered the costs of quickly bringing David's remains home, in time for a full funeral, after he passed away from a brief illness on January 10, 2024.  Read more here.

David's sister Lizzie told the Leinster Express / Laois Live how grateful they are for the support.

The late David McDonald pictured with his family. 

"Raising €9,231 on the actual night of the fundraiser including the online raffle was just phenomenal.  A big thanks to everyone for the huge support. We had so many people donated raffle prizes that we didn't even ask, there were deadly prizes. We tried to give back support to local businesses too by buying vouchers as prizes.

"It was a great night, it was a real celebration of David's life. His school friends came, our family and friends, colleagues from the hospital, retired nurses, we were just blown away. We were afraid that we would be upset, but we kept busy and it was actually a really enjoyable night," Lizzie said.

David with his partner Flavio Villani.

The family all met Colm Bell recently to hand over the cheque.

"He was lovely. He has a book full of the names. As soon as someone calls, he sends an email and gets working to get the person home. That includes Paul Quigley this year, another Mountmellick man. The amount of repatriations is crazy, it's non stop, so many people go travelling," Lizzie said.

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Colm Bell from Newry set up the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust, with his wife Eithne, after their son was killed in a suspected hit-and-run in New York in 2013. More than £100,000 was raised to help bring him home, with his parents deciding to use the excess funds to set up the charity. So far they have arranged 2,163 repatriations of Irish people who died abroad, with 135 already carried out in 2025.