This summer, we’re getting back on the water for Paddle the Bay 2026 to raise funds for youth Counselling services through the Bundoran Community Centre — helping local young people access support, close to home, when they need it most.

What started as a paddle across Donegal Bay has become something much more important than the challenge itself. Paddle the Bay is about our community getting behind a service that is making a real difference for young people in Bundoran and the surrounding area.

The original Paddle the Bay fundraiser in 2024 was set up to create and fit out bespoke counselling suites at the Bundoran Community Centre. Before that fundraiser, those spaces simply didn’t exist. Thanks to the support of local people, businesses and friends of the project, that campaign helped create a safe, welcoming and professional space where young people can now access counselling locally.

We are just 6 months into the rollout of the service and the funds raised during last summers paddle will provide 250 counselling sessions for young people through the Bundoran Community Centre in 2026. That’s 250 opportunities for local young people to sit down with someone, be heard, get support and know they don’t have to carry things on their own.

This year, we want to keep that going.

Paddle the Bay 2026 will once again raise funds for youth counselling services through the Bundoran Community Centre, helping to keep this vital support available to the young people in our area who need it. At a time when so many young people are under pressure, having somewhere local, private and professional to turn to can make a huge difference.

Taking on this year’s 40km paddle across Donegal Bay are Ryan Allen (Irish Gap Year), James Garvey (Rossnowlagh Surf School), joined by Iarom Madden (surf coach) and supported by Oisín Armstrong (Madden’s Bridge Bar). Together, we’ll paddle from the foot of the Sliabh Liag cliffs to the Bundoran Boat Quay in support of this cause.

Though it’s a serious paddle, there’s also great craic in it — a long day out on the bay with friends, surrounded by the beauty of this coastline, all for a good cause. In many ways, that’s the spirit of Paddle the Bay: local people pulling together to support young people in our own community.

We’re incredibly proud that Paddle the Bay has already helped create something lasting in Bundoran. It has not only funded counselling sessions, but helped establish a space and a service for young people that simply wasn’t there before. With your support, we can keep building on that and help make sure local young people have somewhere to turn when they need it most.

If you’re in a position to support Paddle the Bay 2026, we’d be hugely grateful for a donation of any amount. Every contribution, no matter the size, will go directly towards supporting youth counselling services through the Bundoran Community Centre and will make a real difference here in our community.

Thanks so much for your support.