Mary Ellen Molloy.
COMMUNITIES across south-west Donegal will come together to take part in a major fundraiser, ‘Walk with M.E.’, for Downstrands Family Resource Centre and the Kevin Bell repatriation trust on St Stephen’s Day.
The ‘Walk with M.E’ event has been organised by John Ross Molloy who lost his older sister Mary Ellen in a horrific car accident in Australia just a few days before last Christmas.
Mary Ellen (26) from Ardara was killed when a tree fell on a taxi she was travelling in with two of her fellow nurses. Ms Molloy died instantly in the freak accident on Friday, December 20, 2019 in Melbourne.
The services of the KRBT were used to bring Mary Ellen home to her parents Terence and Angela, her two younger brothers John Ross and Karl Joseph and the Molloy and Gillespie families in early January. She was laid to rest in the graveyard adjacent to the Church of the Holy Family, Ardara, on January 2 this year.
Last weekend, Mary Ellen’s former work colleagues and friends came together to walk in Melbourne. Organised by the Irish Australian Support and Resource Bureau, the dawn walk united those present in friendship and support.
Speaking to the Donegal News, John Ross explained that some family members and many friends have since reached out to counselling services, which has proven to be invaluable in the healing process.
“Mary Ellen was a psychiatric nurse who was dearly loved by us all and we wanted to do something in her memory,” he said.
The family decided on a walk as it would allow family, friends and the local community to spend time with each other.
The “Walk with M.E.” will take place on St Stephen’s Day, December 26, from 12 noon to 3pm at Pearse Memorial Park, Ardara. Walks will also take place at Narin Beach, Meenaneary Community Centre, the distillery building in Carrick, the Blue Haven, Kilcar and Lough Eske Castle.
The proceeds from the walk will be divided between The Downstrands Family Resource Centre and The Kevin Bell Foundation.
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