Pictures: Charity brunch honours memory of nine-year-old Cork girl who passed away

A NINE-year-old Cork girl who passed away three years ago was the inspiration behind a recent fundraising event in Carrigaline.

The Jingle Bell Brunch took place at Carrigaline Court Hotel to raise funds for the Heart Angel charity.

Set up in memory of Béibhinn O’Connor, the initiative promotes acts of kindness in communities.

The organisation was behind the Heart Angel Garden in Carrigaline Community Park, among other such remembrance gardens, and supplied climbing walls for schools. It also provided play therapy services for children and supported the adoption of a canine companion dog.

Béibhinn died suddenly on September 16, 2020, of a cardiac arrest, during what was expected to be a routine procedure. She had been suffering with a rare congenital heart defect in the years leading up to her passing but stayed positive through countless medical appointments.

Still reeling more than three years after her death, Béibhinn’s mother was determined to channel her grief in a way that helped others. More than 120 people attended the inaugural Jingle Bell Brunch comprised of a meal and entertainment from the Carrigaline Gospel Choir. Irene said she hopes to hold the event annually to keep her daughter’s memory alive.

“Even after she died my daughter’s kindness kept coming across,” Irene said. “We wanted to keep that going by inspiring as many acts of kindness as possible.” She described the many acts of kindness that peppered Béibhinn’s daily life.

“If she saw a girl getting upset because of how others treated her she would always stand up for them. A lot of parents told me about how she stuck up for their children. My daughter’s kindness kept coming across. During lockdown she would write positive messages on little stones and scatter them through the woods where we lived. The idea was to cheer people up who were having difficulty coping. She was so gentle that she wouldn’t kill a fly. If a spider came her way she literally refused to kill it. Béibhinn’s death changed everyone around her from us — her parents — to her close friends.”

Irene is grateful her daughter had a happy life. “We knew her time was always borrowed but every day of her life was happy and without a care in the world. “ She said the idea for the Jingle Bell Brunch was inspired by Béibhinn’s love of Christmas.

“She always loved Christmas so this was the perfect time to have it. Her birthday would have been in January so these are both very difficult times for us.

I’m lucky that everyone is remembering Béibhinn and I’d like that to continue. Her friends are 13 now and will be old enough to attend the brunch themselves in a few years’ time. The charity is keeping her memory alive.”

In 2022, schools across the country celebrated her 11th birthday with random acts of kindness. Her parents, Irene and Eoin, have raised €100,000 for the Make a Wish Foundation.

• To find out more about the Heart Angel Charity, visit theheartangel.ie