Irish Children's Fund
{{short description|Irish organization}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
The Irish Children's Fund (ICF) was a "not-for-profit, nonpolitical and interdenominational reconciliation" organization which operated from 1982 until 2011.{{cite web|url=https://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/organization-to-know-irish-children-s-fund/article_a299ad0d-af17-5342-af44-30ef3d235b90.html |title=Organization to Know: Irish Children's Fund |website=nwitimes.com | publisher = The Times of Northwest Indiana |date= |accessdate=2019-05-19}}{{cite web|url=https://www.icfkids.org/ | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20130604185801/https://www.icfkids.org/ | archivedate = 4 June 2013 | title=The Irish Children's Fund: Home |publisher= icfkids.org }} It was involved in bringing Protestant and Catholic boys and girls from Belfast and Derry, some of whom had experienced the violence of Northern Ireland's Catholic-Protestant divide, to stay with American families in the Chicago area, Northwest Indiana and Indianapolis.{{cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/07/09/Irish-kids-sample-American-pie/1479426571200/ |title=Irish kids sample American pie - UPI Archives |publisher=United Press International |date=1983-07-09 |accessdate=2019-05-19}}{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2006-03-22-0603220039-story.html |title=Hearts open to kids from Northern Ireland |publisher=Chicago Tribune |date= |accessdate=2019-05-19}}
History
ICF was founded in 1982 by Robert N. O'Connor, a native of Dublin and resident of Hudson, Ohio.{{cite web|url=http://www.icfkids.org/history.php | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20120206221639/http://www.icfkids.org/history.php |archivedate = 6 February 2012 |title=The Irish Children's Fund: History |publisher= icfkids.org}} 164 children participated in the first summer. Over the next twenty-five years, the ICF hosted over 3,000 children from Belfast and Derry.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}} The children, 11 years of age, spent one summer month in the Chicago area, Northwest Indiana, and Indianapolis with volunteer hosting families. Each year, up to 100 children participated in the summer program.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}
Volunteers, whose primary responsibility involved the coordination of the hosting families, fund raising activities, and the summer mixing events for all, administered the USA program. There were two part-time employees staffing the ICF office.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}} Sources of funding included grassroots fundraising activities sponsored by the host families.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}
The ICF also operated a reconciliation center in Ballycastle, County Antrim. Small groups of children were brought together for weekend gatherings during the school year and to spend one week at the center each summer.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{cite web|url = http://www.icfkids.org |title = Irish Children's Fund | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20130604185801/https://www.icfkids.org/ | archivedate = 4 June 2013 }}