Family Ensures Legacy of Late Son Through Charity
A bereaved father who has assisted in repatriating the bodies of nearly 2,500 individuals who died abroad is implementing measures to "copper-fasten" the future of his family’s charity.
Colin Bell and his wife Eithne established the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust following the sudden death of their son Kevin in a suspected hit-and-run incident in New York in 2013.
As he nears his 73rd birthday, Colin Bell stated that they have employed staff to manage the daily repatriation responsibilities, although he will remain "very much still involved" with the trust.
He clarified that he and his wife are not stepping down but intend to take a "step back" from the around-the-clock demands of their voluntary roles.
For 13 years, the couple have transformed their grief into support for families across the island of Ireland, assisting them in bringing loved ones home for funerals.
"It's a privilege to be able to help families at the worst of times," Bell told NI.
"But... we haven't been able to have holidays as such because I was always on the end of a phone.
"And the phone could have rung at three o'clock in the morning and I would have answered it."
Over 30 Repatriations Monthly
The pensioner couple, residing in Newry city, receive support from their other adult children, who serve as trustees of the charity; however, the demand for their services has become relentless.
"Because we've taken so many people home, people all over Ireland are aware of us. I think we've touched most parishes in Ireland, north and south," Bell said.
"At the moment we're doing over 30 repatriations a month and they could be from anywhere in the world."
He anticipates that if this rate continues, the trust will reach the milestone of 2,500 repatriations by the end of May, making it an appropriate time to consider the charity’s future.
"Now, 13 years on, we want to cement the charity – make sure that it will continue after we're gone.
"We're not getting any younger and so we have now employed a director of operations and an operations officer and so that actually frees me up.
"I'm not 24/7 on the end of a phone because we've now got help and it means we can step back a bit and have a bit more time to ourselves."
Despite this, the retired teacher emphasized he is not retiring from the trust and will continue "coming to the office every day as usual."
Impact on Grieving Families
The profound impact the Bells have had on grieving families is evident from the testimonies of those they have assisted.
One such individual is Laura McDermott, whose brother Joseph died in a crane accident on a building site in Australia in 2015.
"Words wouldn't even do it justice because we were in such a pit of grief, shock, trauma," she recalled.
"We wouldn't have even known what to do... how to organise getting my brother home from Australia. We wouldn't have even known how to start."
Neither the British nor Irish governments cover the costs of repatriating their citizens in the event of death abroad, and these expenses can be substantial.
McDermott described that within hours of learning of her brother's death, her family received a call informing them that KBRT was "paying for everything."
"To have that weight lifted off our shoulders was just incredible," she said.
Over the past decade, her family has held annual fundraisers on her brother's birthday, raising approximately £100,000 in total for the repatriation charity.
However, the support provided by the Bells extends beyond financial and logistical assistance. McDermott recalled the couple’s kindness when her family required emotional support.
"We just wanted to talk to people who had been through what we were going through.
"And he [Colin Bell] said: 'No problem Laura, we'll come down to your house, we'll meet you and your mum and dad.'
"They hugged us, they looked at Joe's picture on the fireplace, they sat down, they had a cup of tea.
"They talked to us about what we were going through, what they had gone through a couple of years earlier."
"They're going to meet these grief-stricken families and they must have to go through their own grief over and over again," she said.
Colin Bell acknowledged that dealing with bereaved families is "what we signed up for so we're very, very happy to do it."
He values meeting families who have benefited from the trust and intends to continue engaging with those who fundraise for the charity.
"If people are kind enough to raise money for us we like to thank the people, and I'm sure they like to be appreciated as well," he said.
Future Plans and Legacy
The couple hopes that the "restructuring" of the trust and the hiring of staff will enable them to attend more fundraising events, which still involve extensive travel and logistics.
"For example, I'll have five different cheque presentations in Kerry next weekend," Bell explained.
"And I'll be free to do that and I'll not be on the end of the phone as I normally would have been."
Bell added that these structural changes aim to "copper-fastening the future" of the trust.
"We want to make sure in 20 years' time, in 40 years' time, that Kevin's legacy will still be going."
