# Gala dinner raises $3.5 million for Ireland Funds

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2008/05/20/gala-dinner-raises-35-million-ireland-funds/
- Published: 2008-05-20T09:38:31+01:00
- Author: Paul Artherton

**The recent charity gala dinner of the American Ireland Funds in New York raised
over $3.5 million, some $650,000 of which came from Ireland.**
The 1300 supporters
and guests gathered at The Tent at Lincoln Center for the 33rd annual Dinner Gala.
The event is the biggest of the 100 the Fund organises each year around the world.
The honorees on the night were Liam Neeson Performing Arts Award and Lew Glucksman(
Humanitarian Award). The late Lew Glucksman was honoured for his generosity to Ireland.
His focus was on education and giving young people a head start in life.Despite 
the difficult economic environment, the dinner raised $3.565 million for the [Ireland Funds](http://www.irlfunds.org),
well ahead of its original goal. Most notably, over $650,000 was donated by donors
in Ireland.A key priority of the Fund is to engender reconciliation between the 
two communities in Northern Ireland and, in particular, to ensure that the prejudice
of the past does not beset the next generation. Over the last number of New York
Dinners, the Fund has provided support to Integrated Education and has helped sponsor
Sesame Street Northern Ireland.This year, the key beneficiary of the dinner was 
the American not-for-profit PeacePlayers International which brings children in 
divided societies together through the neutral sport of basketball. A gift of $1
million was made to PeacePlayers to treble the number of children in its program
in Northern Ireland and, in particular, establish a basketball camp during Northern
Ireland’s marching season when sectarianism is heightened.

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