The one word you dare not say to Alan Nelson is 'No'

It was one of those events that can change a life. It certainly changed Alan Nelson’s. On a mission to deliver a consignment of furniture to a childrens’ hospice in Dublin a decade ago the Navan man experienced a bolt out of the blue; a thunderbolt that struck right at the heart.
 Invited to take a walk around part of the hospice he witnessed scenes that left an indelible mark. “I was delivering 14 chairs for the factory. The address I was given was the ‘Childrens’ Sunshine Home, Leopardstown.’ I had never heard of it,” he recalled last week as he spoke to the Meath Chronicle.
 “I remember seeing this lady who had a little child of two, two-and-a-half maybe, no hair, tubes coming out of it everywhere, it was a little boy and it was heartbreaking, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
 “I couldn’t believe I didn’t even know about this place and as I was driving home I said to myself: ‘If it’s the last thing I do I’m going to get my act together and do some fund-raising for LauraLynn.’”
 Since that day 10 years ago now Alan Nelson, who runs a furniture-delivery enterprise, has embarked on a journey that has involved him running various fund-raising events for LauraLynn Childrens’ Hospice (which incorporates the Sunshine Home) - and raising many thousands of euros in the process.
Now he’s on another push to generate more funds with a day out planned for Killeen Castle on the Friday, 29th June. It will be a day of golf and craic when many well-known faces, particularly from the world of sport, have pledged to show up - Irish rugby legends Fergus Slattery, Tony Ward and Ollie Campbell as well as host of GAA names: Colm O’Rourke, Martin O’Connell, Bernard Flynn, Gerry McEntee, Trevor Giles and Kerry great Jack O’Shea just some of them. In all 160 names are due to participate. At the time of writing efforts to get Brian O’Driscoll involved were also underway.  
There will also be a meal and draws for items such as Katie Taylor’s boxing glove she recently wore when defending her world title; Shane Lowry’s golf club, Johnny Sexton’s boots he wore when Ireland defeated England at the Aviva Stadium last year, a stay in Mount Juliet - and much more. The draw is open to anyone who buys a raffle ticket.

 

Alan Nelson with Meath Chronicle's Jimmy Geoghegan and the glove donated by Katie Taylor for the LauraLynn cause. 

The task of organising the event is a mammoth one yet that has not deterred Nelson. He has done the groundwork himself although he will soon be helped by a friend, Michelle Nolan, a former neighbour of his when he lived in Athlumney, outside Navan. The momentum for Nelson’s latest major charity drive (his fourth in 10 years) is sparked partly by his firm conviction that if you ask for something there is a decent chance you will get it: ‘Ask and you shall receive’ is a line from the Bible he can certainly empathize with.
Clear evidence of that belief can be seen in an episode that occurred a couple of weeks ago. Musing on what celebrities he could sign up Nelson thought of Ipswich Town boss Mick McCarthy, the former Irish manager. He didn’t know McCarthy personally, never met him but he put in a call to Portman Road anyway. As it turned out McCarthy had just come back from training and the secretary, who had answered Nelson’s call, put him through to the manager’s office. 
“I said: ‘Mick, listen you have no idea who I am but I’m funding for the only childrens’ hospice in the Republic of Ireland. Once you say that you are 1-0 up. 
 “Once you mention children, hospice and Ireland with Mick McCarthy he’s interested because he’s Irish to the backbone even though he was born in Barnsley. He said: ‘I want to do something.’ If he signs an Ipswich Town jersey and Irish jersey maybe signed by Paul McGrath fine. He’s going to send me something, to do something, and if at all possible he’s going to come up to Killeen on the 29th, we’ll see.”
 A chance meeting with Brian Peters, Katie Taylor’s manager, yielded one of the boxer’s gloves. “A fellow said to me last week. Alan, God, I can’t say no to you, there’s a million charities but this is very special and you’re very hard to say no to.”

Former Republic of Ireland boss and current Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy

While well known names and faces gives his fund-raising efforts a certain gravitas it’s the generosity, the off-the-cuff generosity, of people that continues to amaze Nelson. He tells the story of walking into a shop just a few days previously and the woman behind the counter handing him over a cheque for €1,000 euro made out to LauraLynn. Others too show no compunction in donating very sizeable sums.
 He describes how in a recent visit to Beechmount Home Park every business there made a contribution. So far he has generated €3,000 but he expects by the end of June to have considerably more.
 There’s a lot of people still to be seen; a lot of work still to be done including the sale of €6,000 worth of raffle tickets but Alan Nelson’s distinctive brand of affable optimism and relentless drive appears unquenchable. Recently a neighbour, Tom Cannon, bought 10 books. Tom has also signed up to help run the project.  
 These days Nelson runs his fund-raising operation from his home near Lismullin school where he lives with his wife Martina and their two children Conor Ricardo and Aoibhín Lupita; the names giving an indication of the youngsters’ origins. 
Both Conor and Aoibhín, who are natural siblings, were adopted by the Nelsons in Mexico when both were babies. They are now as much a part of Meath as to the manor born. 
 Yet this is time of change too for Alan Nelson. It’s a year ago now since his mother Imelda passed away. For years Imelda and her husband Frank Nelson ran the Royal County Furniture company in the Beechmount Home Park while other members of the five-strong family helped out.

Katie Taylor after another triumph

The Nelson clan includes Davy, known to many observers of the local GAA scene as the man who won a raft of SFC medals as player and manager of the famed Navan O’Mahonys. 
 Only recently the Royal County Furniture factory was sold - and added to Imelda’s passing last year - it represented another very significant shift in the history of the Nelson clan.
 “I still see people around and I think it’s Mam. She worked seven days a week, ran the factory, Royal County Furniture, brilliant sales person, manager, organiser. Dad was an upholsterer, they were a great team, 57 years married. Everyday since she died he goes out to the cemetary. Her birthday is coming up and he’ll go out with flowers that day as well. It’s hard to break and it’s heart-breaking.” 
 From time to time Alan Nelson will think back to that first life-changing day in the Childrens’ Hospice in Leopardstown. The little boy he saw in the woman’s arms is, he knows, now gone. “He lived another two or three years but because of the hospice he had a quality of life. He ended up going to Euro Disney. With all the fund-raising you can do things like that. It’s the families who really appreciate it.” 
 That’s why Alan Nelson does it. Why he picks up the phone and asks the question: ‘Can you help us out?’ Invariably the answer is yes.