Saturday, January 2, 2016
President's Message January 2016
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
 |
| Division One President Kevin Ellis |
January 2016
Brothers,
Happy New Year and welcome to the year 2016! This year is very special as we will celebrate the 125th Anniversary of the creation of our Division in the City of Yonkers. Division #1 was organized in the Scared Heart Parish in Yonkers and was granted a charter by the AOH National Board on November 1, 1891. A significant occasion such as this is surely worth celebrating! I recently did some research and discovered that a 125 year milestone is officially known as a "Quasquicentennial". Hmmm, I believe we will just stick with calling it our 125th Anniversary! We currently are making plans to commemorate 125 years of service to the Catholic and Irish Community in the City of Yonkers throughout the year. More on that later.
I would first like to thank all of our members who made
our Officer Installation Ceremony a great success! This year we included the members of LAOH
Division #19 and I must say it worked out great!
Special thanks to our New York
State Treasurer John Manning agreeing to perform the installation for
us. I also would like to thank our AOH Westchester County President Aidan O’Kelly Lynch and LAOH Westchester County President
Alice Koraca Geisler for supporting a combined ceremony effort. I also must
thank our own Pat McCormack for doing
a fantastic job piping in the opening procession of officers as well as our
LAOH sister Nuala Purcell for the
wonderful photographs she provided. Thanks
also to all of the Installation Committee members who worked very hard to make
all of the necessary arrangements. A
complete team effort was put forth and it produced a tremendous result!
Even though it was the Christmas Holiday season that certainly
didn’t mean our Charities & Missions Committee was resting on its laurels.
(Pun intended…sorry) Charities Chairman
Jack McDonald, Mike Morley and Tom Allison
visited Maria Regina High School and were welcomed by Principal Valerie Reidy. They presented the school with a $1,000
donation. This will help fund much
needed improvements to both the school and its technology departments. It appears that 2015 will go into the books
as another great year for our Charities Committee and I hope to have some final
year end numbers for you next month. Great
job everyone!
The Yonkers St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee announced
in December that the Grand Marshal of the 61st Annual Yonkers St.
Patrick’s Day Parade will be Patrick
Quinn, who is the creator of The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. I wish to congratulate the members of the
Parade Committee for making a truly wonderful choice! Through the success of the Ice Bucket
Challenge, Patrick Quinn has helped raise over 220 Million Dollars worldwide to
help fund research to find a cure for ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s
disease. I can speak for all of our
members in saying that we will be proud having Patrick lead us in the parade for 2016.
Sadly, I must report news that Aidan O’Kelly Lynch’s mother passed away suddenly and unexpectedly
in Ireland the day after our Installation Ceremony.
We were also terribly saddened to learn that our own member
Peter Van Slyck had also lost his mother just a few days after Christmas. This is an absolutely terrible loss for anyone and it is especially difficult to bear during the
Holiday Season. Please keep both Aidan
and Peter in your prayers. May they Rest in Peace. Féadfaidh siad chuid eile i Síochána.
Looking ahead, we have a couple of things to go over for this month. Superbowl 50 is the first Sunday of February
and once again we are holding our Annual Division #1 Superbowl Pool to benefit
our Charities Program. The pool is 100
points per box and Brian Hartnett
will again serve as chairman. Please
consider supporting this important fundraiser as it has become a major part of
funding for our Charities & Missions fund each year. Contact either myself or Brian Hartnett to
reserve your box.
Our Annual Golf Sponsor Pub Tour is scheduled for
Saturday, January 30th. This
event is now in its 7th year and is always a favorite for many of
our members. We will once again hire a
bus that will take us around to visit all of our Golf Outing Sponsors so that
we can thank them in person.
Participation in this event is very important as we place great
importance on thanking all of those who support us. Please make plans now and clear your schedule
for that day! More information will be
available at our monthly meeting.
In good and welfare news, please join me in congratulating
John Walsh, son of our own Vice President Jim Walsh. John attends Archbishop Stepinac High School
and was accepted into The National Honors Society in December. John also plays football for Stepinac and the
Crusaders were crowned 2015 CHSAA New York State Champions! Great job John on making your parents and all
of us very proud!
As I stated in the beginning of this message, this year
will mark our 125th Anniversary as a Division. I know that Myles Scully and the rest of our
founding members would be very proud to see that we are still performing the
great works of the order 125 years after they decided to form a Division. Brothers, as we begin this year of
celebration let us take time to remember all of those members who have served
our Division and have gone before us. May
we remember and honor them always by staying true to both ourselves and our
motto of Friendship, Unity and Christian Charity. Let us rededicate ourselves to the ideals,
values and goals of The Ancient Order of Hibernians, and remember to always be
proud of who we are and the great city that we live in. Together, we will ensure that the great work
of the Ancient Order Hibernians will continue to be performed in The City of Yonkers
for another 125 years!
Yours in Our Motto,
Kevin Ellis, President
Division One, Yonkers
