Creeslough GoFundMe page will operate as long as it is needed says founder

Australia-based contractor Gerard McFadden from Ards has revealed that the Creeslough GoFundMe page, which he started, is almost at €400,000 and will remain open for as long as it is needed.

The 41-year-old jumped into action last Saturday when he realised the scale of the disaster in his home town following the devastating explosion at the Applegreen Service Station which claimed the lives of 10 people.

Even though he has been away from home for 23 years now Gerard is no stranger to Creeslough. He returns at least once a year and keeps in regular contact with all the local news, particularly how his local GAA club St Michael's and Donegal are doing in their respective championship games.

Gerard's father, the late Ben McFadden passed away in April after a two-year battle with cancer. He was a highly respected community advocate who helped promote the village in every way he could.

"He was a massive Creeslough community man altogether. I could never tie his shoelaces when I think of all the things he did for the village. I heard so much about what he did over the years and when he passed it was in my head to do the same but little did I think this is what I would have been doing."

His mum Bernadette and brother Peadar still live in Ards, another brother Liam lives in Sydney, Australia while his sister Majella McFadden lives in America.

"Any time I come home I fit in as if I never left."
Gerard worked as a petrol attendant at the ill-fated petrol station for a year when he was 15-16 before he moved on to work in London between 1999 and 2006 He then moved to Brisbane, Australia where he runs his own construction company.

Speaking from his home this (Wednesday) morning Gerard said when he first realised what had happened he tuned into social media to find out more.

"When I saw the pictures I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. I had family and friends texting me. I could see people I know and people I went to school with helping out. It was devastating and it still hasn't really sunk in. You could never imagine anything like this happening in Creeslough. Every day you are thinking, this hasn't really happened, but it has.

Gerard added he had never been involved in any fundraising before so he was delighted and overwhelmed by the response to date.

"My first instinct was, what can I do to help the community so I jumped online and start a GoFundMe page with the hope of raising €5,000 or €10,000 to help, and here we are, €384,021 [at the time of going to press] later."

He said the contributions were coming in from everywhere - construction companies in England and Australia and a few big anonymous donations.

"Around 10,000 people have contributed to date. It's good for people to have a way to express their support. Thank God the fundraising has taken off the way it has and hopefully it keeps going. It's hard to say yet how long I will keep it going but as long as the money is coming in and the need is there I won't close it."

He added the priority was to assist the families of the deceased and injured.

"Things have got away bigger than I imagined. When the dust settles, I will go home and sit down with a few committees and take into account all other funding that came in from everywhere else but my main aim is to help anybody who was affected in any way I can. If we can't do that what's the point?

Gerard organised a vigil in the city centre of the Queensland capital on Tuesday night which was attended by around 200 people.

"I spoke at it but to be honest the whole thing is a bit overwhelming. This is not me, I always like to take the back seat but here I am. I don't mind as I know it's helping people. Everyone I spoke to at the vigil feels the same, it's so much to take in and it's mentally exhausting. I had no immediate friends or family involved but I knew a lot of the people affected. There are just no words for it,"