Rachel Smith Named Leitrim’s Most Inspirational Person at the Gala Retail Inspiration Awards

Rachel Smith from Fenagh is celebrating this week after being named Leitrim’s Most Inspirational Person at this year’s Gala Retail Inspiration Awards with Virgin Media. Rachel’s inspirational attitude in the face of adversity and care for others within the local community has earned her the title of Inspirational Person in this year’s awards.

Established four years ago to celebrate individuals who work to create better communities with their selfless acts and inspirational deeds, Gala Retail awarded inspirational people from every county in Ireland, naming county inspirational people who were each gifted €1,000 in Ireland Hotel vouchers. Rachel really impressed the judges and is a worthy winner of the county award for her inspirational efforts. A final year Nursing student at UCD, Rachel was diagnosed with stage two Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in March this year, which saw her having to pull out of her placement due to undergoing treatment. Now cancer-free, Rachel still managed to check on and look after her friends while she was going through treatment, and will now be able to return to complete her placement in January.

From a huge volume of nominations, 26 county heroes were crowned. Noreen Murphy, from Bantry in County Cork, was named as the Overall Inspirational Person of the Year for her services to mental health with the establishment of Lisheen’s House Suicide Prevention Charity.

 Gala Retail has gifted €26,000 of prizes to the winners with the 26 county winners being awarded with €1000 hotel getaways across Ireland. For further information, see www.gala.ie