On Monday, September 12th, a reception was held to recognize the New York Dinner Committee for raising $2.7 million at the New York Dinner Gala held in May of 2016. In addition, a gift of $1 million made by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation to support Music Generation was announced at the Dinner.
The evening was kindly hosted by Dinner Co-Chairs, Bill Mills, CEO, North America, Citi and Gene McQuade, Chairman, XL Group, in Citi’s headquarters with stunning views of the New York skyline. They opened the evening by welcoming the guests to Citi and thanking them for their support, outreach and generosity towards the New York Dinner.
Chairman of The American Ireland Fund, John Fitzpatrick, also thanked the Committee for their extraordinary work for the largest of the 150 events The Ireland Funds organize across 12 countries. Kieran McLoughlin, President & CEO of The Worldwide Ireland Funds, spoke of the impact the support raised at the New York Dinner has had on projects in Ireland.
Over 100 outstanding projects received support from the 2016 Dinner Gala including Waterford Healing Arts Trust and Irish Community Rapid Response.
The Dinner also supported local Irish causes in New York, including a $100,000 grant made to the Irish Center in Queens providing support to many elderly Irish in the city. Entertainment on the evening was provided by Almeria Campbell and Stephane Duret from the hit musical Hard Times produced by the 1st Irish Festival, an arts and culture initiative also supported by the 2016 Dinner Gala.
