Up Here It's The People: Celebrating Love Donegal Week

It’s Love Donegal week, and at Donegal Giving we wanted to celebrate it in the way that feels most natural to us. By celebrating the people.

Donegal Is More Than A Postcard

We all know what makes Donegal special on a postcard. The mountains, the coastline, the beaches, the Atlantic, the open spaces and the unmistakable sense of place.

But there is something else that is much harder to capture in a photograph. The people who live here, come from here, return here and carry a little piece of Donegal with them wherever they go.

That is what inspired our Love Donegal poem, “Up Here It’s The People.”

Written by Donegal Giving Founder Evelyn Mc Glynn, with voice-over by Meg Kavanagh and video content created by Kevin, The Wild Atlantic Traveller, it is our small celebration of the people behind the place.

Up Here It’s The People

It’s not just the space or the place or even the pace,

It’s the people.

Their living and giving That sets them apart, With passion and pride straight from the heart.

It’s not just the hills, The sea or even the tone,

It’s the people.

Who seek out your story And, like it or not, won’t leave you alone as they open their hearts, their culture, their home.

They raise and they gather For others in need, Supporting each other to help them succeed.

It’s the people.

Not perfect, not polished, Just real.

A people on a mission to share and reveal That up here it’s different

on the edge of a rock,

our people, our culture.

We’re a proud bunch, us lot!

Donegal Day, a chance to share this great place, great people, great living, celebrating our people and all their Donegal Giving.

- Evelyn September 2026

Giving Is Bigger Than Money

Donegal Giving has always been about recognising that giving is much bigger than money.

Donegal Giving is about all the different ways people make a difference, often without even realising it. It can be through their time, encouragement, support, knowledge, kindness or simply by giving someone an opportunity when it matters.

Sometimes those small things stay with us for years and can even change the direction of our lives.

From Donegal To Dubai, Bundoran To Boston

That spirit of giving is woven through communities right across Donegal and through Donegal people living all over the world.

Whether it is Donegal or Dubai, Bundoran or Boston, we want to celebrate those people.

Now We Want To Hear About Your Person

As part of Love Donegal week, we are asking you to share a story:

Tell us about a Donegal person who has shaped your life or made a difference to you or your community.

They might still live here. They might have left Donegal many years ago. They might be quietly helping people every day without ever thinking of themselves as someone who is “giving”. They might be known by hundreds of people, or their impact might only ever have been known by you.

It doesn’t matter. If they made a difference, we would love to hear about them.

How To Take Part

Share their story through our Submit Your Story page and tell us a little about why they matter to you.

We may gather some of the stories you send us and share them here on our blog, so that more people get to hear about the difference they made.

Because sometimes the people who give the most never realise just how much they have shaped another person’s life. This week is an opportunity to tell them.

Love Donegal. Love Its People.

Let’s celebrate the people who make this place what it is. And the Donegal people making a difference wherever in the world their footprints have taken them.