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MAY 2009 NEWSLETTER
Considering the majority of the “snowbirds” had already
departed from sunny Florida, the club had a great turn out at the Social held
on May 7th at the Elks. The
entertainment by “The Boys of County
Lee” was wonderful. Bud & Angie
Martin celebrated their 49th anniversary at the social. Congratulations to both of them! Our next general
meeting will be Wednesday, September 9th at the Elks Lodge beginning
at 7pm. More details to follow.
The board members
of the club are working diligently to plan events during the summer. The information from the survey indicated
there can be many options that club members would like to participate in. The
majority of members who live in Florida permanently indicated they would like a
potluck. The July event planned is a
picnic at the Yacht Club Pavilion located at 5819 Driftwood Parkway on
Saturday, July 11th. The
picnic begins at 2pm. The board members
will be the chefs. Meat will be provided
by the club. We only ask that each
family bring a dish to pass. It is a
BYOB. You may consume alcohol in the pavilion only. So if you would like an
alcoholic drink, please provide it for yourself. Mark your calendar and plan on spending the
day. There will be some great fun. The beach
and the children’s area are also available.
If you did not sign-up at the social, please call Tiny at
540-5620 or George at 541-2084 with your reservation and the number
attending. We need to get a count so we
have enough food. Information about
other events will be sent to you as plans are finalized.
The club is
participating in the Red, White and Boom event on July 4th. We had a new club banner made since a smaller
sized banner was required for the event.
The banner will be displayed at the celebration. The banner can then be
used for future advertising since it will have the dates of the festival which
can be changed every year. If you do go
to the fireworks display, please look for our banner.
Just a
reminder---The 6th Annual Irish Festival will take place March 6th
& 7th, 2010 at the Bavarian Gardens of the GASC. Please mark
your calendar for that weekend. We will
NEED every member of the club to volunteer for that weekend. We plan on having
the trip to Ireland Raffle again. The
proceeds from the raffle actually paid for all the entertainment at the 5th
Annual Fest. We would like to do the Ad/Program Booklet again for next year’s
festival. The proceeds from the ad book helps pay many expenses incurred before
the fest even starts. We do need volunteers
for this project. Cape Coral is a large
city and cannot be adequately covered by only three volunteers. We begin selling ads in October and would
like to have the booklets available for the Caloosa Celtic Festival on January 23,
2010. The club will continue to be very visible prior to the festival including
our attendance at the Celtic Fest, the C.C. Farmers Market, the Sunset
Celebrations and the wearing of our safety green festival t-shirts. Anne Carney will continue to handle our
festival publicity.
May friends and
family
Bring light to the
cottage,
Warmth to the
hearth,
And joy to the
soul.
(An Irish Proverb)
APRIL 2009 NEWSLETTER
The
2009 Festival was a great success! This
year’s fest income was over $67,000. Profit from the festival was
$34,000. We have already given to eleven charities in Florida. Ten of the charities are in SW Florida and of those
eight charities are in Cape Coral or Ft. Myers area. Please support the
businesses that purchased ads in our 2008 Ad/Program Book. If you are able to
support them by buying their service or going to their restaurant, please let
them know you saw the ad in the Irish ad book. It will be much easier to sell
ads next year.
Our April meeting had 63 members
present. We had fourteen new members present. They included Dennis
& Mary Fogarty, Dave & Marion McKenzie, Tera & Tiffany Wason, David
Ennis, Carole Kember, Mary Shay, Mary & Paul Ryan,
Jim
Martin & Robert Crowe. Finbarr Corr,
author & guest speaker gave an enlightening talk on St. Patrick and his
influence on the Irish culture. Our collection of food for the Cape Coral
Caring Center netted 67 pounds of non perishable food.
Thank you to all who contributed!
Our next event is an Irish Club
Social which will take place on Thursday, May 7th. We will
meet at the Elks which is located @ 4631 SE 10th Place . All
are invited to come early and enjoy dinner before the social which begins at
6pm. The cost of dinner is between $5 and$7.50 depending on what you
order. Remember, if 12 people from our club dine before our social, the
rental of the meeting room is free. This is a time to meet, greet, &
get to know other members of the club. We will have live Irish
entertainment---The “Boys of County Lee ”. This
is not a meeting! Another
event taking place on April 25th
at St. Kathryn Drexel is the K.C. Dinner. The dinner starts at 5pm
with a donation of $15. Entertainment is being provided by the Cape Coral High School Jazz Band. Contact Tiny Conaton at 540-5620 for
additional information.
If you are in town, mark your
calendars for Saturday, July 11th. A potluck picnic is
planned. A sign-up sheet will be available at the May 7th
social or call George
Miller at 541-2084 if you plan on coming.
Plans are in the works for other summer activities for those members who
are full time residents of Florida . We do have a survey we would like
you to fill out if you did not do it at the April meeting. We would like to
know what activities you would like to see occur in our club. We also
need to know in what areas you would like to volunteer--both for the festival
& for the committees needed to steer the club in the right direction.
A successful club is dependent upon its members. We want our club
to grow and as our guest speaker, Finbarr Corr, said about the Irish “Our best
years are but to come”. That should also be our philosophy. Presently we
have 150 families who are members of our club. We can be strong.
Please help!
Several individuals have already
signed up for the Celtic
Women Concert. It is a new show—not
seen before. If you would like to attend, please call Tiny Conaton.
Information listed below.
*************************************************************
Celtic
Women
Isle
of Hope
Wednesday,
May 27, 2009
7:30pm
Barbara
Mann Theatre
Group
of 10 or more $65 each including tax
Contact
Tiny & Marion Conaton @ 540-5620 or irishtiny@embarqmail.com
Tickets
must be ordered by May 1, 2009
*************************************************************
May I never take life too seriously,
Knowing I’ll never get out of it alive.
Irish
Proverb
MARCH 2009
NEWSLETTER
The Luck of the Irish was with us on March 7th
& 8th. Our festival success was beyond our wildest
dreams. God granted us two beautiful days! The club would like to thank the
93 volunteers who with their dedication and hard work made the festival the
success it became! Our club has grown by 45 new families who have joined
over the festival weekend plus the 21 families who had joined since January
’09. WELCOME
ALL! Our next general meeting and our last meeting for the season is Thursday,
April 2nd. We meet at the Elks which is located @ 4631
SE 10th Place. All are invited to come early and enjoy dinner
before the meeting begins at 7pm. The cost of dinner is between $5 and$7.50
depending on what you order. Remember if 12 people from our club dine
before our meeting, the rental of the meeting room is free. Our guest
speaker for the meeting is author, Finbarr Corr. He will discuss St.
Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland and the reason there is a celebration on
March 17th. We are asking for donations of non perishable food
to give to the Cape Coral Caring Center. This is a charity that donates
food only to those people in need who live in Cape Coral. After the
“snowbirds” leave the caring center is in dire need of donations. On Thursday, May 7th the club will be
having a “social”. We will be meeting at the Elks at 7pm. This is a time to
meet, greet, & get to know other members of the club. We will have
live Irish entertainment. Come early for dinner and then enjoy your time
socializing. This
is not a meeting! On Wednesday, May 27th the Celtic Women
are in town see info attached.
Wishing you a rainbow for sunlight
after showers---
Miles and miles of Irish smiles for
golden happy hours—
Shamrocks at your doorway for luck
and laughter too,
And a host of friends that never
ends each day your whole life through!
~Irish Blessing
Celtic Women
Isle of Hope
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
7:30pm
Barbara Mann Theatre
Group of 10 or more $59.50 each
Contact Tiny & Marion Conaton at
540-5620 or irishtiny@embarqmail.com
Tickets must be ordered by May 7,
2009
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FEBRUARY
2009 NEWSLETTER
We
had a great meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 11th. Our next meeting will
take place on Thursday, March 5th at the Elks beginning at 7pm. You are
always welcome to have dinner at the Elks before the meeting. Dinner is served
from 5 to 7pm. As of now our meetings will be on the first Thursday of the
month unless there is a holiday.
Because of the festival taking place in March, no outside
event has been planned for the month. Our next event will be Saturday, April 4,
2009. There is a show presented by Knights of Columbus beginning at 7pm
at Cape Coral High School. The entertainment is Suzi Cruz, an
impressionist singer, and comedian Timothy Hawkins. The cost is $12
per person. If you would like to attend please call 540-2161 for
reservations. On Thursday, May 7th, we will have our last “get together” for
the season. We will be meeting at the Elks at 6pm. Dinner will be
available as usual. Come join us and get to know the other members in our
club.
The festival is fast approaching. Hopefully you have
seen advertising about our event. The week before the fest the event will
be advertised both on TV and in the newspaper. Please tell your family
and friends about the fest and encourage them to come. We need help on
Saturday, March 7th at 8am to set up. It will only take about one
hour. If you could help out, please call 542-5622. All festival
volunteers will receive a copy of the schedule which confirms exactly when they
will be working. If you have not volunteered but would still be able to
help, please call Bud at 542-5622. If you have any empty toilet or paper
towel rolls, please bring them to the next meeting. Some families have
donated bottles of alcohol for our “Basket of Cheer Raffle”. We would like
to make a basket for each day and are still in need of more bottles. If
you would be able to donate a bottle please call 540-2161 and we will arrange
to pick it up. The Trip to Ireland Raffle tickets, whether sold or
unsold, MUST be turned in by February 28th. Please call 540-2161 if you
would like to drop them off or put them in the mail with a check made out to
the Cape Coral Irish American Club. We need to get a count of the number of
tickets available for selling at the festival.
Twenty-three
families have renewed their 2009 membership. With the exception of charter
members the last date to renew your 2009 membership is March 31st. After
that date your name will be removed from our records
May you be blessed
with warmth in your home,
love in your heart,
peace in your soul
and joy in your life.
~Irish Blessing
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