Portnoo Market Garden's Barrie Quinn sets up Christmas fundraiser for those in need

Barrie Quinn from Portnoo Market Garden has teamed up with the Downstrands Family Resource Centre in Glenties to bring some reassurance to families in need this Christmas.

Barrie admits he was “saddened and shocked” to learn first-hand the suffering that people in his community are currently enduring and has set up a fundraiser called Heat Homes for the Holidays: Help Our Community on GoFundMe in an attempt to help.

To get things going, Barrie’s Portnoo Market Garden has donated €500, and he is using their considerable online following of almost 1,000,000 – 310,000 followers on Facebook and 650,000 on Instagram – to get behind the appeal.

He says the cost of living crisis in Ireland is having a massive impact on people and encourages those who are having difficulty to contact the Downstrands Family Resource Centre.

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“I have had a conversation with somebody about a very delicate subject and I’m saddened and shocked by what I’ve learned,” Barrie shared online. “I was with the Downstrands Family Resource Centre and they have told me that there are people, members of my community, that are really struggling.

“They are families with young children, they are elderly people living on their own. There are people that are under immense pressure just to live. People are making decisions whether to turn on the heat in their home or to buy food. Nobody ever deserves to make them sort of decisions so I really want to do something to help. I want to set up a GoFundMe page and I want to ask you, the Portnoo Market Garden community to help to donate anything – from a euro to €10, it all adds up, if you can.

“I will take this money and it’ll go directly to the Family Resource Centre who will distribute it to people who need it. It will give them the means to heat their homes and ensure that nobody in my community is hungry this Christmas.|

“The truth is, the cost of living in this country is destroying people, pushing people to their limits. It’s your friends, it’s your neighbours, people you know, so please donate if you can.

“If you’re one of the people in my community – Glenties, Ardara, Portnoo – who need help. Please reach out to the Family Resource Centre on a confidential line, 087 3851426, and they will take some details, and they’ll help you. That’s it. So together we can actually make a difference here in people’s lives in my community that need help, to give them a safe and warm Happy Christmas without any worries. Let’s see what we can do.”

Local councillor, Glenties-based Brian Carr, immediately backed the fundraiser. He posted: “Great leadership, Barrie. As you said, difficult times mean people have to make those tough decisions. As a councillor, I hear these issues too, and again as you have also said, even small contributions can make a difference. Well done, Barrie! Donated”

Portnoo Market Garden is a farm is dedicated to growing fresh, chemical-free produce using regenerative and organic methods that honour the health of the soil, the food, and the people who eat it.

“Our mission is simple: to grow and create in a way that’s sustainable, honest, and connected,” they say. “We want to inspire greater awareness of where our food and products come from, and to encourage others to slow down, ask questions, and reconnect with the natural world.”

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