connect 2018 • 33 Mary died in 1987. After attending her funeral, Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald wrote in the Irish Times: “Mary Daly cared passionately for people… she found violence intolerable…all the more so because for her the real Ireland was epitomized by the warmth and decency of the people of Bantry with whom she had come to know and love so well.” Chuck Daly, a close friend of Sir Anthony O’Reilly and Dan Rooney, the Co-Founders of The Ireland Funds, was a member of the original Ireland Fund Board and served for almost four decades. He currently is a Life Trustee. Chuck, Mary’s family and friends es- tablished the Mary Daly Fund in her honor. Chuck brought Bantry community leaders Sean O’Luasa, Jack Matson, Matt Kingston and Deirdre Kingston on board as principal advisors to this donor advised fund. With life-long roots in West Cork they were able to seek, shape and propose the grants and impact of the Mary Daly Fund for 30 years, serving as the “guiding lights” as Chuck best described their role. With a particular eye out for small grant opportunities, they enabled the Daly family, working with The Ireland Funds, to assist community development, cultural, sport and educa- tional programs that today are still strengthening the West Cork area. THE FIRST GRANT – FUTURE FORESTS “The first grant the Mary Daly Fund gave went to Mike Collard who, in a very rural area, had recently set up a small roadside nursery with the dream of mak- ing widely-available an extensive range of trees and shrubs for shelter, timber and beauty,” says Chuck. “In 2017, while I was in Bantry for the weekly fair, there was a young woman selling a wonderful array of plants beside a van labelled Future Forests. After buying a couple of plants from her, I identified myself. ‘Wait!” she said, ‘I remember you! I have a picture of the two of us.’ She reached into the van and pulled out a copy of an old photo showing a little girl handing me a piece of ancient bog oak in the moment after Mike and her mother had received that very first grant. Today, thanks to Maria and her husband, Future Forests has become an international enterprise housed in a substantial hand-hewn building containing a gift shop, offices and a facility shipping plants and crafts all throughout Ireland and beyond.” In late 2017, Chuck, observing that he and other key donors were, as he puts it, “more than a bit long in the tooth,’” announced that after 30 years and hundreds of small grants, many now self-sustaining, the Mary Daly Fund would conclude with three gifts of partic- ular significance to his family, one of $5,000 to ARC Cancer Support and a second grant of $5,000 to Bantry Hospice. Both organizations had helped Chuck honor Mary’s wish that she would spend her final days in her Irish home overlooking Bantry Bay. THE FINAL GRANT — WEST CORK WOMEN AGAINST VIOLENCE The final grant, for $100,000, was given to West Cork Women Against Violence. It was the largest grant ever made from the Mary Daly Fund. The grant went to address the cause nearest to Mary’s heart. It will assist hundreds of endangered women and children. “The Mary Daly grant gives us the opportunity to introduce new services and extend existing ones,” says Kathleen Harnedy, Chairperson of West Cork Women Against Violence. “It will allow us to focus on the future and our vision of a safe place for women and children in West Cork fleeing domestic violence.” THE POWER OF SMALL GRANTS TO BANTRY AND BEYOND At the concluding press event that announced the final grants, Chuck reflected on the partnership with The Ireland Funds. “Small grants not only encour- age a broad range of persons to feel a part of the philanthropic process but in cases like Future Forests have helped them grow large enough to attract major donors and clients.” ORGANIZATIONS THAT RECEIVED GRANTS FROM THE MARY DALY FUND INCLUDE: Atlantic Challenge Ireland Ballylickey Tourist & Development Association Bantry Agricultural Show Society Ltd Bantry Athletic Club Bantry Bay Sailing Club Bantry Care for the Aged Association Ltd. Bantry Development and Tourist Association Bantry Group Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Erieann Bantry Historical and Archaeological Society Bantry Hospice Project Bantry Inshore Search & Rescue Association Ltd Bantry Integrated Development Group Bantry Irish Red Cross Society Bantry Juvenile Basketball Club Bantry Mussel Fair Bantry Rowing Club Bantry Task Force Ltd Bantry Town Clock Cappabue National School Captain Francis O’Neill Memorial Company Ltd Carriganass Castle Ltd Chief O’Neill Festival Co-Action West Cork Cork ARC Cancer Support House Derrycreha National School Gaelscoil Bheanntrai Kealkill National School Kealkill Youth Theatre Mealagh Valley Resource Community Development Association Muintir Bhaire Community Council Ltd Munster Rugby Club Pencil Short Story Competition St. Column’s Youth Drama Group The One Fund Ulster University Foundation West Cork Music Ltd West Cork Music Schools Project West Cork Rural Transport West Cork Women Against Violence Project