Dear Brothers,
Looking forward to our meeting on April 9, 2024 at 7 pm at St. Michael’s. Hope to see you there.
What a March we had. A great time of year to be Irish. I enjoyed the LAOH Irish Gala at St. Michael’s on March 9th. The Ladies did a nice job with the help of Brothers Larry Keefe (cooking the wonderful Corned Beef) and Kevin Kitrick working in the kitchen and Pat McGowan and John Costello working the bar. We also had some other Brothers helping out and cleaning up.
At our March meeting we enjoyed Shepherd’s Pie and Irish Trivia presented by Brian Hegarty.
The following weekend was the St. Patrick’s Day/Irish Festival Weekend on Church Hill (March 16-17). Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day and we had a record turnout even though Shamrock the Block was happening at the same time. Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day, started with our 8 am Hibernian Mass at St. Patrick’s Church celebrated by Fr. Brian Capuano, Pastor, and our own Deacon Peter McCourt. Also, thanks to Mark Collins for leading this effort and to Vince Eikmeier for leading us in song. After Mass we enjoyed some food thanks to our VP Mike Valacer and then paraded down Broad St. at 10 am and sounded good singing the Irish National Anthem led by Vince. We had another good day selling raffle tickets and we had many Brothers manning the Entrance gate throughout the weekend.
At the end of the day on the Main Stage we pulled the winning raffle ticket for Jennifer Wiegand for $5,000. She is the wife of our own Joe Wiegand. Also, we awarded our own Stokes McCune with the Hibernian Lifetime Achievement Award for his many years of tireless service to the Irish Community. Thanks to Tom Nolan for spearheading this.
This weekend helped us have a record year with raffle ticket sales which will be reported on at our April 9th meeting. Thanks to John Condon who sold 1,250 tickets this year. Also, our own St. Patrick, Brian Hegarty, for welcoming and working the crowd in front of the tent. As well as others who bought and sold tickets at the Festival and throughout the year. Thanks to Jim Woods for leading our raffle sales over these many years of great success.
At our March meeting, a proposal was made to donate $2,000 to St. Elizabeth’s Church. This will be voted on at our April 9th meeting. This money will be earmarked for needy students who are attending All Saints School or Cristo Rey. We will let our Chaplain and St. Elizabeth’s Pastor, Fr. Jim Arsenault, determine how and whom to allocate these monies to.
See below for our upcoming events, please plan to attend if you can:
April 13, 2024, Saturday at 3:30 pm – Dooley Ceremony at Maymont; proceed to Dooley’s Mausoleum for flower laying; Presentation on Dooley in the Garden Hall; Rare Olde Times afterwards for a Toast. Dooley DOB 1/17/1841. At 1700 Hampton St, Richmond, VA 23220 entrance.
May 4, 2024, Saturday, 2 to 6 pm; Montpelier Celtic Festival – Volunteer. Kickoff the selling of our Raffle tickets; Irish food, drink, Whiskey tasting, music. Order tickets online at https://www.montpeliercenter.org/celtic-festival.html
June 8, 2024, Saturday, at 6:35 pm; Richmond Flying Squirrels Baseball Game Outing (Family), The Diamond, 3001 N. Boulevard, Richmond, VA 23230 – (Tim McDonnell – Chair) (ph 804-678-9764; tmc1918@gmail.com – let Tim know how many tickets).
In Friendship, Unity and Christian Charity,
Big Dan Caffrey
