'If someone has the strength to come to me, then the biggest thing I can give back is time'
AINE FAHERTY
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Edel undertook a 99-kilometre cycle through nine villages in full Garda uniform to raise almost €25,000 for Féileacáin - the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Association.Image 2 of 5
Handing over the cheque to Féileacáin - the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Association.Image 3 of 5
Garda Edel Dugdale presenting Prosper Trim service users Laura McDonnell and Stephanie Stokes last March with a cheque from her ‘Prosper for Paddy’s’ fundraiser. Edel encouraged the public to create their own St Patrick’s Day parade at home and to send in their video clips and donate money towards Prosper’s new building.Image 4 of 5
‘Garda’ Matthew McHugh on the beat in Trim and on checkpoint duty with Garda Edel Dugdale.Image 5 of 5
Nickita and Anthony Farrelly’s baby girl Molly was born on April 18th 2020 when Nickita was just under four months pregnant and did not survive leaving the couple devastated. After Garda Edel Dugdale encountered the couple travelling with their precious little girl’s white coffin at a checkpoint during lockdown and was inspired to organise a 99km through nine villages in full uniform raising over €25,000.Small acts of kindness are commonplace for Trim Garda and all round good guy, Edel Dugdale who is proof that not all heroes wear capes, some wear uniforms - Garda uniforms.
“It is about the smaller things in life,” she says. “Sometimes it is just about that little extra smile walking down the street, stopping to say hello and asking someone how they are, that gives people a feeling of ‘they see me’.”
Going above and beyond the call of duty to help is really where Edel comes into her own - often taking time to meet with people in need of a listening ear or a helping hand on her days off. “If people are comfortable talking to me and they look for me, then I will always listen and be there. I always have and I always will,” she says.
“If someone has had the strength to come up to me, then the biggest thing that I can give them back is time. Even if I don’t have the answers for them or it’s not the answers that they are looking for,” she says empathetically.
This giving nature gives Edel the feel-good factor and an “inner strength and confidence” to proceed in her daily endeavours. Edel is also mindful of the importance of building social connections within the community so that people can see past the uniform and see a person who has empathy and understanding for them.
Until Covid hit, Edel had been working regular shift work in Trim Garda station for 13 years. Then the opportunity arose to move to Community Policing. “I jumped at the chance,” she says excitedly as it gave her room to spread her wings into the rural parts of the Trim district to try and help those that were vulnerable and isolated. Previous to working as a Garda, Edel worked in the HSE for ten years which first opened her eyes to many challenging life circumstances in society, which in turn prompted her to become a Garda.
The Westmeath native loves being based in her adopted town of Trim with its strong community spirit, likening it to her hometown of Delvin where she grew up with her parents, one sister and three brothers. “I have been very lucky in my life,” Edel says with her upbringing and parents who taught her that if she could ever help someone, that she always should.
Edel and family however suffered their own personal tragedy with brother Shane losing his life to suicide just before Covid 19 hit. “This life wasn’t for him,” she says. “We always say that we hope the next one is better.”
Edel tries to stay focused on her work, which now involves The Little Blue Heroes - a charity operated entirely by Garda volunteers. Her work with it began in 2020 with a 99-kilometre cycle through nine villages in her Garda uniform to raise almost €25,000 for Féileacáin - the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Association.
She was inspired to undertake the challenge when she stopped a family at a checkpoint in Easter 2020 as they were taking their baby to its resting place following death in pregnancy. This event struck a cord with kind-hearted Edel who rounded up other front-line staff in Trim including the Ambulance and Fire Service to undertake the challenge together.
Edel’s newest endeavour with the Little Blue Heroes ‘A Run with Rian’ is to raise funds for the family of 6-year-old girl Réiltín Fleming from Kildalkey who was born with a rare condition, which has left her deaf, blind and without being able to speak, amongst other disabilities, requiring 24-hour care. Rian is Réiltín’s nine-year-old brother who is spearheading the fundraiser to take place in the coming weeks.
Other work recently seen Edel involved in preparing food hampers for people spending Christmas alone in Trim, while also ensuring to drop them at the door of people who she had met through the year and through lockdowns, who had been struggling in one way or another, “to let them know that she hadn’t forgotten about them.”
Into the future, Edel has bright days looming on a personal level, as she will soon embark on married life having put plans on ice in 2020, when her June wedding from that year fell victim to Lockdown One.
On a professional level, this considerate lady will undoubtedly continue to brighten the days of the lucky people she encounters through her many acts of kindness that go noticed and unnoticed around the town of Trim and its hinterland.