The Buncrana accident in March of this year claimed the lives of five Derry natives.
Now, James McClean has stepped in to help the family affected by it. He's started his own clothing line called ThanksJosh, alongside Derry City player Jordan Allan (currently on loan to Coleraine). The brand was launched last week.
It's named after Josh Daniels, who lost his mother, sister, brother in law and two nephews when a car slipped off Buncrana Pier and sank. All of the clothing features a unique three-heart symbol which was used by McClean and Allan in the aftermath of the accident.
Speaking to the Irish News McClean explained why he and Allen decided to start the business in Derry:
We decided to launch our first store in Derry because it's a place that means everything to me.
It's where I'm from, it's where I grew up. I have strong football connections here and my family are here. It is a city that means so much to my heart and I thought, why not start off at home first, hopefully it will take off here and we can expand elsewhere. I think it's important to starts off where you're from.
McClean's reasoning for setting up in his hometown is two fold.
We are going to employ people here. We are just starting off and have friends and family helping out. As the shop takes off we will hopefully employ more people.
We will be thinking about people leaving school and looking for their first job. If we can help in that sense, then it will be a win win situation. Derry has been good to me and if I can give back that's what I want to do.
For every purchase over £30 made in the Thanksjosh store, £5 will go to helping the homeless on the streets of Derry. It's yet another fantastic gesture from McClean towards helping his home city.
[Source: The Irish News]
