We are having it tough with this coronavirus as it is still affecting us very badly after almost three months. It will come to an end and we can all get back to normality and continue with our lives as we always did.
Now for some good news with an update on the Slainte 2020 campaign. I have to say that they make my job easier because it is hard for me to be Out&About. To date they have raised over $350k and dispersed just shy of $300k to over 250 recipients, many, if not most, are families with children.
They are also raffling off two Aer Lingus Round Trip Tickets from New York to Dublin. Tickets were kindly donated by Aer Lingus, thru the good graces of Helen Maguire, Director Aer Lingus North American Sales. Thank you Helen. Raffle tickets for the Aer Lingus Tickets are $100 each. There are only 100 raffles tickets being sold in this raffle. So your chances are not bad. They also have 2 grand stand tickets for the 2021 All Ireland Football Final. Raffle tickets for these are $20 a head. The All Ireland tickets are donated by Paul Flynn, CEO of The Gaelic Players Association.
They were able to arrange this through the good graces of Dublin Society member Eddie Dowling of The Padded Wagon. Thank you Ed. If anyone would like to purchase either Aer Lingus Raffles or All Ireland, please contact Shane Humphrey at (347) 739-0390 or online at www.slainte2020.org.
With a complete shutdown of the New York region’s economy, Paul Finnegan, Director of New York Irish Center suggests, “We can only expect the number of people experiencing hardship in our community to grow rapidly in the weeks ahead, as whatever savings they have are rapidly depleted. This is especially true in the construction and hospitality trades, which employed so many of the Irish community. Sláinte 2020 is a way of harnessing the goodwill of the community and distributing aid efficiently to those who need it.”
New York GAA Chairperson, Joan Henchy emphasized that the New York GAA family, Senior, Minor, Ladies and Gaelic for Girls boards collectively felt that collaborating with other community groups to form Sláinte 2020 was vital: “Through Sláinte 2020, we will be in a stronger position to offer financial support to our members and the broader Irish and Irish-American community in the tri-state area by assisting them with food, rent payments and utility bills, etc.”
According to Michael O’Reilly, First Vice-President of United Irish Counties, “The UIC Association is proud to be working closely with other Irish organizations in this very worthwhile endeavor. Slainte 2020 will bring economic help and assistance where it is needed most, at the individual and family level. This continues the long history of the Irish in New York always stepping up when needed.”
“We want to reach out to anybody willing to support Sláinte 2020 because there’s going to be a lot of hardship out there,” Aisling’s Director Sandra Feeney-Charles maintains. “There is a wonderful Irish expression, ‘Ni neart go cur le cheile’ – There’s no strength without unity.”
To make a donation, please visit: www.Slainte2020.org, or mail your donation to: Sláinte 2020-COVID-19 Fund, 990 McLean Avenue, Yonkers, NY 10704.
As I have been saying for the last 10 weeks, I am still quarantined but I hope it will be fully over by the time we get into July, I hope. It is not fun as I miss being Out&About so you can see I am giving you a little bit of gossip that goes viral, ha ha.
Here is something I hope will interest you on Eavan Boland, a special transatlantic tribute to the poet and teacher, presented by Poetry Ireland, the Irish Arts Center and the Embassy of Ireland to the United States which is all happening this Wednesday, May 27 at 1pm EST.
Revered as perhaps the outstanding Irish poet of her generation, Boland’s artistic imprint was truly global. But nowhere is it more keenly felt than in the United States, where she was professor of English and director of the creative writing program at Stanford for a quarter century, contributor to the New Yorker for more than thirty years, and holder of numerous other influential roles on both sides of the Atlantic. Contributors include former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson; Mayor of Seattle Jenny Durkan; Ireland’s Ambassador to the US, Daniel Mulhall, and Permanent Representative to the UN, Geraldine Byrne Nason; Kevin Young, poetry editor of the New Yorker; novelists and short story writers Tobias Wolff and Belinda McKeon; poets Paula Meehan, Alvy Carragher, Marie Howe and Solmaz Sharif; musician Loah; and Poetry Aloud winner Michael Tient among its many guest speakers and readers from across the United States and Ireland.
The event will be hosted by Maureen Kennelly, of the Arts Council of Ireland; Rachael Gilkey, of the Irish Arts Center; and Christina Ablaza, of Stanford’s Creative Writing Program. It is FREE. You can get more information by emailing info@irishartscenter.org.
Now I knew you would all be excited by me telling this news!
The Irish Repertory Theatre is going like gang busters online and passed on this news to me: “We miss our crowded lobby on 22nd Street, but since you cannot come to our house, we have decided to come to yours… we are very proud to announce our first-ever Online Summer Season! Our season will kick off on Wednesday, May 27 with The Gifts You Gave to the Dark, a World Premiere production written by Darren Murphy specifically for digital media in reaction to the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis. We will then host a special online celebration on June 8: The Irish (Rep)…and How We Got That Way featuring a screening of the 1998 Irish Rep World Premiere production of Frank McCourt’s “The Irish…and How They Got That Way”.
Finally, following the success of last week’s Molly Sweeney, the season will feature three of our most beloved recent productions reimagined for the screen and filmed remotely as part of A Performance on Screen: Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom starring Aedín Moloney, The Weir by Conor McPherson, and Love, Noël: The Songs and Letters of Noël Coward starring Steve Ross and KT Sullivan. All performances are free, with a donation suggested if you can afford it. More details for all events and performances are online at irishrep.org!
I hope to be back live soon and I hope to see you all again WHEN I’m Out&About…