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Food and Drink

12th Feb 2021

“People can be beautiful” – Kerry chef “overwhelmed and emotional” after hundreds respond to his plea for help

James Fenton

Kerry chef Chad Byrne has said that he is “overwhelmed and quite emotional” after hundreds of people responded to his video request for help.

On Wednesday, Chad shared a video in which he talked about his ambition to convert a horse box called The Hungry Donkey into a “functional kitchen”. However, Chad received news that he wouldn’t be getting the bank loan that he was expecting, putting “a real spanner in the works.”

Explaining that he had already purchased the horse box, Chad went on to appeal to people to donate what they could in order to make his dream come true to say that the public responded positively would be an understatement. A crowdfunding target of €15,000 has already been surpassed, with over €20,000 having been donated by over 400 backers at the time of writing.

In the clip, Chad had promised meal kits and vouchers in return for donations and even offered to name dishes after some of the kind people who were willing to help him out. After posting the video, the father-of-three took a bit of time off social media and upon his return he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.

In a tweet, he said: ‘I took the night of on twitter as well to be perfectly honest, I just didn’t know how this would go, I am so grateful,you have idea how appreciative I am of your support. Overwhelming and quite emotional right now. With every part of my being,I thank you I need tissues now I think.’

https://twitter.com/chadpbyrne/status/1359796643864981507

In an emotional follow-up video, Chad said that he was “nervous and jittery” posting the original clip but he has since learned that “people can be beautiful.”

https://twitter.com/chadpbyrne/status/1359966801124352000

That’s the kind of good news story we need to kick off the weekend. All the best to Chad and his family in the new venture and if you’d like to help out you can do so via this link.

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