Kildorrery couple cycling for Ukraine
“This is to help people who are standing in the street without their house in front of them.”
Those were the words of Eddie Quinn, 74, who is getting ready to cycle around Ireland with his wife Annie, 73, to raise money for people in war-torn Ukraine.
The couple, who are both retired teachers, will cycle approximately 1,500km in just over a month to raise funds for Irish humanitarian aid organisation GOAL and its Ukraine support programme, based in Lviv in western Ukraine.
Eddie and Annie will set off next Wednesday from their home in Kildorrery in North Cork on a route that will take them up the west coast of Ireland, through Donegal, Derry and Belfast, and then back down the east coast.
Eddie, who was a widower when he met his wife Annie, didn’t start cycling until he was 62. “It was after my wife died that I decided for some reason to get a bike. I remember my first bike, my daughter's boyfriend was selling this bike and I bought it from him. I had never cycled in my life before that.”
Eddie and Annie have undertaken a number of long-distance cycles in recent years, including trips to the UK and Europe, and Eddie says it’s getting harder as the years go by.
Eddie said: “I forget the pain until I go back, but we are delighted to be doing it. We will get there one way or another. If we can't go over it, we'll go around it.”
Having seen the devastation of the war in Ukraine, Eddie and Annie decided they would do what they could to help.
“Ukraine has obviously been on everybody's mind. It was certainly in ours and we didn't know what to do. I certainly wasn't brave enough to go over and do anything, but we thought this would be a great opportunity to raise money for them,” he said.
The couple expect the challenge to take up to four and a half weeks with a day off each week to recover.
“Normally we wouldn't have a time limit, but for this trip we do because we have to be back home before 17 June because I have a little granddaughter being christened,” said Eddie. On their way down the east coast, Eddie plans to make a very personal stop in the capital to pay tribute to the Irish people who, like those in the Ukraine, were forced to leave their homes over 170 years ago.
He said: “On the way back down through Dublin, I made a point with my wife to make sure that we stop at the famine sculptures on Custom House Quay. There's a whole group of sculptures on the footpath, one of them carrying a child, one of them carrying a dog.
“When we reach that, I'm going to photograph it with us and our bikes to say to the Irish people that this was us one time. We had to leave Ireland by the thousands to go and be looked after by someone else.”
The conflict in Ukraine has resulted in the displacement of over 12 million people since late February. As part of its humanitarian response, GOAL delivered vital first aid kits, food kits and other essentials to those affected within Ukraine.
Currently the only Irish aid agency registered to operate in Ukraine, GOAL aims to provide cash and voucher assistance, legal advice and psychosocial support to internally displaced people in the eastern part of the country, with plans to quickly expand its programme to western Ukraine.
To support Eddie and Annie Quinn’s fundraising cycle around Ireland, visit goal-ukraine-appeal.raisely.com.