Overwhelming kindness of US festival audience for Donegal teenager who had guitar stolen
The young musician was playing at the Milwaukee Festival with his family at the time
A little bit of kindness really can turn a difficult situation into a positive one, and that certainly proved to be the case for a Donegal teenager who was the victim of a very upsetting crime.
Finn Byrne is a member of the traditional music ensemble The Byrne Brothers along with Dad Tommy and brothers Luca and Dempsey. The hugely talented family who spent many years in Donegal moved to the US several years ago, and have been making a big name for themselves in entertainment circles.
They were playing at the Milwaukee Irish Festival recently when the crime - and subsequent phenomenally generous reaction from the audience - occurred.
The family took to social media to outline the incident and to express their thanks to everyone involved.
They said: "The most amazing thing happened last night. Finn got his guitar stolen from our hotel.
"Pat Murphy and Gaelic Storm called out to all their Milwaukee fans at their show and told them what happened to Finn.
"With that, people started throwing money on stage, people from the back were tapping people in front to pass their money to the stage.
"We were playing on another stage at the time and didn’t know what was happening until a special cart picked us up and took us backstage to be presented with a box full cash!
"Finn now has more than enough money to buy his dream guitar. Thanks so much to Gaelic Storm and everyone at Milwaukee Irish Fest for your incredible generosity and for the most amazing weekend ever."
While living in Donegal, Finn attended Scoil an Linbh Íosa, Killymard, Donegal Town, and Killian NS, Inver. The popular family still have many friends and well-wishers in the area.
More information on their experiences in the US can be found on their Facebook page The Byrne Brothers