Concern

“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.”

–Herman Melville

In my last post, I wrote about gratitude and about knowing when enough is enough, but also that there are those who simply do not have enough. In a year that has been tough for so many, it is still amazing how much we have to be grateful for, and it seems so appropriate that now, more than ever, we count our blessings and give back.

This is the second year that I will be co-chairing a silent auction event at the Ireland Network Ball, which will be held this coming February. The theme of our auction this year is “giving back.” We want to give back to our community, both local and global. The Ireland Network is an organization of Irish-born professionals living and working in Chicago. As Irish professionals living abroad, we have benefited from access to education, support and opportunity, but know that many others are not so lucky. The proceeds from this year’s event will benefit the Chicago Irish Immigrant Support Center (local) and Concern Worldwide (global).

The Chicago Irish Immigrant Support Center is a nonprofit organization serving the needs of Irish immigrants, old and young, in the United States. This organization has worked tirelessly to help the Irish, in good times and bad.

Concern Worldwide is an international humanitarian organization dedicated to reducing suffering and ending extreme poverty wherever it exists. As many of you who attended fundraising events at Nuada know, Concern Worldwide is an organization that is close to my heart, and I am very happy to still be in a position to support them, even though I no longer have the store. Concern was founded in Ireland in March 1968 in the home of Kay and John O’Loughlin Kennedy. Africa Concern, as it was then known, launched an appeal for the famine in Biafra with the slogan “Send One Ship.” They did, just five months later, and then went on to work in more than fifty countries, helping people achieve major and long-lasting improvements in their lives.

I want to use my blog today to make you aware of, and ask you to share my own concern for, those who need our help at home and abroad. If you think you might be able to support our silent auction, either by attending the Ireland Network Ball on February 20 or by donating an item to the silent auction, I would be so grateful. I am already so grateful for you and all that you already do to give back. If you think you might be interested in attending the ball, which, by the way, is a real fun event, open to everyone, and a great way to spend an otherwise dreary February evening, please let me know. If you can think of a clever or even not-so-clever item to donate to the silent auction, just email me at orla@nuada.com or respond to this post.

Thank you for reading and stay tuned for my holiday gift guide!