|
The Irish Children's Fund (ICF), which began in 1982, has served over 3,500 Protestant and Catholic boys and girls from Belfast, who experienced the violence of Northern Ireland's Catholic-Protestant divide. Children stay with American families in the Greater Chicago Area, Northwest Indiana and Indianapolis, arriving at the end of June and departing at the end of July every year. The ICF has an ongoing program in Belfast which brings the Protestant and Catholic children together weekly. ( Irish Children's Fund ) ==A Short History== ICF was founded in 1982 by Robert N. O'Connor, a native of Dublin, and current resident of Hudson, Ohio. 164 children participated that first summer. Over the past twenty-five years, the ICF has hosted over 3,000 children from Belfast and Derry. The ICF only brings children from Belfast at the present time. The children, 11 years of age, spend one month in the greater Chicago area, Northwest Indiana, and Indianapolis with volunteer hosting families. The mix of children is 50% Catholic and 50% Protestant. Each year, up to 100 children participate in the summer program. The ICF is dedicated to salvaging some of the joys of childhood for the children and building a foundation for future peace in the region. Volunteers, whose primary responsibility involves the coordination of the hosting families, fund raising activities, and the summer mixing events for all, administer the USA program. There are two part-time employees that staff the ICF office. The primary source of funding involves grassroots fundraising activities sponsored by the host families. Creative Irish Gifts (), a mail order catalog, is a committed supporter of the ICF. Funds generated by the catalog help finance the ICF and the Children's Project Northern Ireland (CPNI) programs and projects. The Children's Project Northern Ireland (CPNI) is a subsidiary organization in Northern Ireland. Gary Rocks, the director, and his staff provide weeknight get-togethers for the children at a leisure center. CPNI operates mini-buses to collect and deliver the children to the activities. The ICF also operates and maintains a reconciliation center in Ballycastle, County Antrim. Small groups of children are brought together for weekend gatherings during the school year and spend one week at the center each summer. Each child participating over a three-year period returns to America in our Teen Program and most often stay with his/her original host family. A 1995 independent study by the Department of Psychology of The Queen's University of Belfast shows the positive impact of the ICF program on participants as compared to a control group. It shows that ICF attendees have less religious prejudice, a better self-image, and are more confident and successful in their work careers and personal lives. In 2011 the last group of teens went to the USA 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Irish Children's Fund」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|