Say what you want about those Americans but there's no doubt they can put their hands in their pockets when it comes to helping out the old country. Irish America has long been seen as something of a cash cow for various organisations on this side of the Atlantic and now Kerry GAA have tapped into the lucrative market in a very effective way.
As part of a fundraising effort for a Centre of Excellence near Farranfore, hit up New York, Chicago and Boston over the past month. They did quite well, to the extent that a number of special events in the three cities raised a whopping €1,028,000 according to the Examiner.
The New York leg of the trip alone raised over €750,000 thanks to a high profile dinner and auction with items such as SuperBowl tickets and a portrait of Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh up for grabs.
There are some deductions to be taken out of the total sum but even after that, the fundraising effort will go some way to hitting the magic total of €5.8 million to get Centre of Excellence off the ground. It is thought that another fundraising effort in London at the end of this month will put the County Board over the top on that total.
All in all, decent money if you can get it so fair play to Kerry.
[Examiner]
