Limerick family raises €15,000 for Milford Hospice by walking miles and miles

MORE than €15,000 has been raised for Milford Hospice by relatives of well-known teacher, author and historian Michael Quinlan who died two years ago this week.

The archaeologist and former headmaster of Lough Gur National School well known throughout the county.

Ahead of his anniversary members of the extended Quinlan family  completed a novel fundraiser - ‘Miles, miles and more miles for Milford Hospice’.

The idea was simple – all members would commit to walking a number of marathons over one week – starting on July 5 and finishing on July 11 which would have been Michael’s 82nd birthday.

All 35 members of the extended family committed to the challenge with family members walking in Limerick, Cork, Dublin, London, Luxembourg and New York.

“We all wanted to do something for Milford, they were wonderful to Dad during his last few months. We knew that raising funds in these times isn’t easy so we set up a GoFundMe page to allow people to donate online and we are just overwhelmed by the level of support that we received – it just goes to show the level of regard that people in the community had for Dad,” said Michael’s daughter Siobhan.

The initial target was to raise €5,000 and to complete 50 marathons but in fact the family raised €15,500 and completed 62 marathons.

Michael’s wife Anne says she’s thrilled with how the fundraiser went.

“It was important to have a fundraiser that everyone in the family could get involved in as family was so important to Michael, and everyone did get involved, even the youngest grandchild who is only five years old,” she said.

A cheque for €15,500 was presented to Anne Marie Hayes of Milford Hospice ahead of the bank holiday weekend.

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