Mayo man kindly donates aircraft for special cause
The aircraft, named 'Aine', which was donated to the Australian charity Little Wings by Ballyvary native Adrian Ruane.
An Australian charity received a unique and novel donation from a Mayo man and his wife when the couple donated their aircraft to the organisation.
Ballyvary native Adrian Ruane and his wife Ciara, who are living in Sydney, donated their plane, named ‘Aine’, to a very special charity called Little Wings.
Little Wings is a not-for-profit organisation that provides free, professional, safe flight and ground transport services for seriously ill children in rural and regional New South Wales, Queensland and Australian Capital Territory.
The aircraft, so kindly donated by Adrian and his wife Ciara, will hugely assist the charity expand their capacity and capabilities and help so many more ill children across the three states that both need and deserve the best of medical treatment. The donation was marked with an extraordinary event at Bankstown Airport in Sydney.
Adrian emigrated from Castlebar in 2011 to pursue a life in Sydney and has always had a keen interest in planes and aviation. He is currently the managing director of the Roads and Rail Excavations construction company, originally set up in 2015. The firm is celebrating 10 years in business this year and is a mixed utility and civil contractor for which Adrian is the sole contractor. Adrian and his wife Ciara married in 2016 and have three young boys with another on the way.
The donation of the aircraft was emotional and profound for Ciara as the plane had the slogan ‘Flying High with Aine’ engraved on the top. Aine had been Ciara’s sister who passed away from a childhood illness aged just five many years ago.
Now, this aircraft with Aine’s name written on it can help young children spread across Australia to get the care and treatment they deserve and bring them from the rural parts of the Bush into the big city hospitals.
The donation event was attended by more than 50 people which included Kevin Hennessy, Deputy Head of Mission at the Consulate General of Sydney, which was assigned by Tim Mare, the Irish ambassador to Australia. Also in attendance were Ciara’s parents, who were able to see for themselves the aircraft bearing their daughter’s name.
‘Aine’ has since taken to the Australian skies for multiple missions and has already had a huge impact on the capacity of Little Wings’ services.
