Taxi driver John Quinn named 2012 charity hero
A taxi man has been named Ireland's Charity Hero for 2012.
John Quinn from Dublin was crowned after more than a 250,000 people took part in the online vote run by bettertogether.ie.
John began campaigning for the suicide charity Pieta House after his son Sean took his own life in 2005.
He told 98FM how the tragedy spurred him into action in his north Clondalkin community.
"On the day Sean died I got up onto the alter and I said: 'There's nowhere for anybody if you're feeling like Sean was - there's nowhere for you to go. Well, from today onwards, you have me.'
"I wasn't expecting the number of people who got in touch with me. I was just offering them someone to talk to. I'm not a counsellor or a therapist, but because I had been through it, I knew what they were going through."
In September 2011, John appeared in TV series 'The Secret Millionaire' where he told John Colcannon about Pieta House, resulting in a donation of €25,000.
