A YOUNG man who entered the river at Lifford Bridge to rescue a distressed woman was one of four recipients who received an award for his bravery.
Josh Marley was presented with the Individual Award Winner award at the Donegal Garda Youth Awards, held in the Old Courthouse in Lifford.
Josh entered the river on the night of August 27, 2021, in order to rescue a female who was in extreme distress without any consideration for his own safety or well-being. He managed to bring the woman to the safety of the riverbank and the emergency services were then contacted.
The actions of Josh on the night in question were selfless and courageous.
He displayed great strength of character and managed to keep a level head in an emergency situation. Josh is a fantastic role model for others and is to be greatly admired for his instant willingness to help others in their time of need.
Alan McCarron and Cormac Brady, from Letterkenny, received the Community Safety Award. The duo took part in a Youth Leadership initiative between February 2021 and September 2021.
As part of the initiative they completed a Leadership Community Action Project.
They decided to collaborate with Letterkenny Fire Service, and they set about visiting the elderly in the Termon and Kilmacrennan areas to check and install fire alarms.
They acquired boxes of fire alarms from Letterkenny Fire Service and they distributed them to the homes of the elderly.
They checked existing alarms and were shocked to find that many alarms were rarely checked or had old batteries.
They replaced the batteries in any alarms that needed them.
They collected information from the homes they visited and passed it on to Letterkenny Fire Service to be stored on a database so that a return visit would be arranged after two years had passed.
This gave great comfort to the people they visited.
They also distributed leaflets at the houses they called to in an effort to raise awareness about carbon monoxide poisoning.
Alan and Cormac spent their time providing a free, possibly life saving service and they did so with great enthusiasm.
Manus Doherty, from Culdaff, received the Special Achievement Award.
The Mica crisis has been around for most of Manus’s life and he has seen first-hand the toll that the crisis has had on his family and also on the wider community.
Manus gives freely of his time and has done so for quite some time in his involvement with the Mica Action Group.
He is driven by a strong desire to improve the situation for his family and his community by campaigning and attending meetings.
He has attended many Mica related events and he also spoke confidently to crowds of people at the Mica stand at ‘Self build Ireland’ in March of this year.
Transition Year Students from Scoil Mhuire and Crana College, Buncrana were the Group Winner.
The students volunteered to help with the redevelopment of Swan Park in Buncrana following recent floods.
The park lost a lot of animal and plant life as a result of the floods.
The students, along with Donegal County Council, Wildlife Inishowen and the Angling Centre are planning, sketching and developing information boards detailing the flora and fauna of the park.
These award winners will now be put forward and will represent Donegal for consideration at National Awards level. They are wished the very best of luck.
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