Browsing Category

News

Foróige: Raising the Next Generation of Leaders

Every Tuesday night at 7 p.m., a group of teenagers, 12 to 18 years old, meet at the Irish Immigration Center of Greater Philadelphia office in Upper Darby. There’s fun, of course—they’re teenagers—but they also have a serious mission: carving out a better future for themselves and for their community.

It’s the Foróige Youth Group, a local chapter of Ireland’s biggest and most successful youth development leadership program.

The Immigration Center chapter of Foróige (pronounced fo-ROY-guh) has about 30 members. It’s the first in the United States.

January 25, 2019 by Jeff Meade

News

AOH/LAOH Keeps Coast Guard Members Afloat During Shutdown

About 43,000 Coast Guard service members and employees nationwide continue to work during the government shutdown, including about 200 at the Coast Guard station in South Philadelphia on Columbus Boulevard.

Members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians/Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians are banding together to provide the local Coast Guard members with the essentials they need to keep providing for themselves and their families until the shutdown ends.

January 18, 2019 by Jeff Meade

News

Could You Be the Biggest Loser?

One too many snickerdoodles this holiday season? Or has the weight just been coming on for a while?

Here’s an opportunity to shed those unwanted pounds and help out the Irish Immigration Center of Philadelphia at the same time.

It’s the center’s Biggest Loser challenge, set to begin Monday, January 14, from 6 to 7 p.m.

Anyone can join the challenge. All you need to do is set your mind to it—we admit, that part can be tough—and visit the center for a weekly private weigh-in. The three “losers” with the largest percent weight loss after eight weeks will win cash prizes. Entry fee is $50, which supports the Immigration Center.

January 4, 2019 by Jeff Meade

News, People

The Gift That Keeps On Giving: Hibernians’ Christmas Food Baskets for the Needy

For the ninth year in a row, the Hibernian Hunger Project has helped make Christmas dinner a reality for area families in need.

This past Saturday, volunteers gathered at the Shamrock Food Distributors warehouse in Frankford to pack cars, minivans and trucks with heavy cardboard boxes, each one filled to the top with all the fixings for a Christmas dinner—turkey or ham, potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, and more—and spread out across the city and, in many cases, well beyond, to deliver the food to needy families.

December 21, 2018 by Jeff Meade

News, People

Irish Community Mourns the Passing of Liam Hegarty

They say if you want to get something done, ask the busiest person.

That summed up the beloved Liam Hegarty, as one longtime friend put it. Hegarty is well-known for serving on the board of the Irish Immigration Center of Philadelphia and in various leadership roles for the Delaware County (Delco) Gaels, the Gaelic Athletic Association locally and nationally, Irish Network-Philadelphia, and the Irish American Business Chamber and Network—but his influence and rampant creativity touched many other organizations and, say those who knew him best, made them better.

Hegarty, of West Chester, born in Ednamuck, Mountcharles, County Donegal, passed away suddenly earlier this week. Born October 10, 1967, he was just 51. His untimely death leaves many trying to imagine what life will be like without his friendship and dedication.

“He really was a visionary,” says his friend of 30 years, Tom Higgins, who played with Hegarty for the Donegal football club and served on many boards with him, from the Immigration Center to the Delco Gaels. “This whole youth sports organization is basically his design, not just in Philadelphia but around the country. The Liberty Bell championships, which happen a week before the annual Continental Youth Championships for mainly teams on the East Coast—that’s all Liam too. His idea.”

December 6, 2018 by Denise Foley and Jeff Meade

Audio, News

Podcast: An Interview with Radio Host Marianne MacDonald

Listeners throughout the country tune in to hear Marianne MacDonald every Sunday at noon as she hosts “Come West Along the Road” on WTMR 800 AM. The show features traditional Irish music and interviews, along with local concert and event news.

She’s been hosting the show for many years, and for her, clearly, it’s a labor of love. “It’s a highlight of my week,” she says, “and I really look forward to hearing from my listeners.”

It would have to be a labor of love. The show takes a lot of preparation, and costs thousands of dollars to produce.

You can help out. An on-air two-hour pledge drive will take place this Sunday, December 2. Listeners can phone in their pledges and donations of any size at 856-962-8000.

November 26, 2018 by Jeff Meade

News

Mary Courtney Sings of Ireland and ‘Freedom’s Pioneers’

She’s been living in NYC since 1982, but Mary Courtney’s voice is pure Irish, the acoustic rendering of an evening around a turf fire, drinking a cuppa fortified with whiskey and honey, while the winds blow in from the west and an ethereal mist shrouds the cottage. It’s a voice that is mighty belting out rebel rock, but exalted when it has a ballad to bestow. It’s a voice that never disappoints, and is able to take old songs to new places.

The Castlegregory, County Kerry, native has a new CD out titled “Freedom’s Pioneers” that pays tribute to heroes of the rebellions Ireland has borne witness to over the last several hundred years. She explained, “I felt that the sacrifice of those souls needed to be remembered and honoured as well.” And not only the Catholics who fought for Ireland, for, as she points out, “A lot of our patriots were Protestants, both those that fought and those who were writers. I feel that their sacrifice is often overlooked, and I hope this CD shines a light on their contributions & highlights the fact that the struggle for freedom was not always split along religious lines.”

November 16, 2018 by Lori Lander Murphy

Audio, News, People

“Martin McGuinness: The Man I Knew”

Author, journalist and broadcaster Jude Collins visited the Commodore John Barry Arts and Cultural Center in Philadelphia Sunday to give a talk on his new book, Martin McGuinness: The Man I Knew (Mercier Press).

The book is a collection of interviews with prominent figures in recent Northern Irish history, all reflecting on the late Martin McGuinness, prominent Irish republican Sinn Féin politician, a warrior turned peacemaker, who became deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland.

McGuiness died in 2017.

Among those interviewed are prominent unionists, including Eileen Paisley (widow of Ian Paisley), Michael McGimpsey and John McAllister, peace talks chairman U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, and friends and allies such as Gerry Adams and Martina Anderson.

Was McGuinness, as some thought, a terrorist who somehow became a different man? Or was he, as others believed, always the same man—a man who never wavered in his pursuit of the same goal but who, when the time came, simply embraced a new approach?

Collins digs deep to find the answers to this and many other questions. He sat with us for a brief interview preceding his talk.

Here’s what he had to say.

Editor’s note: All Irish Philly podcasts are now available on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn and Spotify.

October 7, 2018 by Jeff Meade

Older Posts

Newer Posts