AN American man who won a Donegal farmhouse in a raffle says he only entered the draw because it was for a good cause.
Robert Duncan and his wife Valeria had just gone to bed when his phone started ringing. After ignoring it a couple of times Robert answered to be told that he had won the house along with £50,000 in cash.
“I saw this Irish number coming up on my phone and because I work in technology, you do get unusual calls from time to time. But you don’t normally pick up because who is going to be calling you at that time of night? But it rung two or three times until I answered.
“We were just utterly shocked because you never really expect to win these things. You think of it more as being for charity,” said Robert.
The family home in Bruckless was raffled off by the Gallagher sisters who wanted to raise funds for the Beaumont Hospital Foundation. The charity drive was in honour of their parents, Ben and Lyndall, who passed away less than eight weeks apart in 2018.
The draw attracted worldwide attention with just over 50,000 tickets sold.
Ben and Lyndall Gallagher with their daughters Susan, Johanne, Marcia and Dorothy.
As well as the three-bedroom house, the property comes with an adjoining building that was previously used as a seasonal hostel. It also has a camp site and its own orchard.
For Robert, Valeria and their two-year-old son Ben the prize only adds a further international flavour to their story. Robert is from Florida, his wife from Argentina and they live in Bromley in Greater London.
“I’ve been over here 17 years but I’m from Florida originally. My wife is Argentinean and we have a son, Ben.
“We did live in Belfast for a few years and we used to go to Derry quite regularly. But we never got as far as Donegal.”
Following the win, that could be rectified next month. The Duncans have spoken to the Gallagher family and are hoping to visit Ireland as soon as possible.
The house, buildings and land that are in the proud possession of Robert and his family.
“We would love to visit in June. As soon as we are allowed to travel really and we are looking forward to meeting the family. It’s like with most people in Ireland, you can’t believe how nice they actually are so we are excited about meeting them in person and learning more about the history of the house and the area. It’s an amazing story, with their parents and the fundraising. I think they’ve raised something like £25,000 for the hospital which is an incredible amount of money.”
As to their long term plans, Robert said they are still trying to take in the news that they are now the owners of a rural Donegal farmhouse and all that comes with it.
“We are not ruling anything out. We are just trying to get over the shock because we never for one moment thought it would happen.
“We have no intention of selling it again and we might invest in it and turn it into a nice vacation place. But we have no idea at this stage.”
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