The New York Senior football Panel and Management will run 1000km in 24hrs on the 2nd of May 2020 to raise much needed funds for Sláinte.
Gaelic Park in New York should have been full this Sunday with home supporters hoping for an almighty shock and Galway supporters enjoying their trip to the Big Apple for the Connacht SFC quarter-final tie.
Unfortunately, the world is a very different place now to what it was when the draws for the 2020 All-Ireland Championships were made.
New York has been hit harder than most by the global COVID-19 pandemic, but in the face of considerable adversity the GAA community there has shown incredible resolve.
They’ve rallied around one another and also played a huge role in doing all they can to help front-line staff in the fight against the deadly virus.
New York GAA are one of five Irish organisations along with the Aisling Irish Centre, Emerald Isle Immigration Center, New York Irish Center, and United Irish Counties who have come together to form a collective fundraising effort, Sláinte 2020, to assist in the Irish community in the tri-state area during the COVID-19 crisis.
The New York footballers and team management will do their bit for the cause on Sunday by completing a 1,000km run, roughly the distance from Malin to Mizen Head and back, to raise funds for Slainte.
Those taking part will be running a variety of distances in a variety of settings due to the obvious constrictions of lockdown, and it’s going to require a serious collective effort to complete the distance.
“New York GAA is so proud of their senior players who would have been taking on Galway May 3rd,” says New York county board chairperson Joan Henchy.
“Many thanks to the New York management led by Johnny Glynn for their assistance in this fundraising drive."
It’s just the latest example of members of the New York GAA Community going above and beyond the cause to do what they can to help others during the current health crisis.
Members of the New York football management team have been especially heroic in recent weeks.
Team selector Dermot York, in particular, has gone above and beyond the call of duty.
New York football team selectors Dermot York and Cormac McCormack have prepared and delivered meals to the staff of Lenox Hill Hospital.
He lives a couple of blocks away from Lenox Hill Hospital and for the past month has taken it upon himself to prepare and deliver meals to nurses in the hospital on a daily basis.
“Dermot York has been proving an inspirational character around the Upper East Side of Manhattan,” says John Collins, a member of the New York football panel.
“These meals often take hours to prepare. The unsuspecting nurses are surprised each day with a delivery of the finest quality home cooked food. He is not allowed into the building due to the risk of the virus so he calls ahead, someone comes down to collect it and he is on his way again.
“He has never even met any of the nurses. He has been doing this for a month and he is not showing signs of slowing down, often texting ahead to ask about what they would prefer the following week.
“He also has the help of New York selector Cormac McCormack also from Longford who sometimes helps Dermot prepare the food.
“My fiance Jessica is the Nurse Manager in the hospital and I was the contact for him there. Jessica has told me that numerous nurses have cried talking of Dermot's generosity and his hand written words of encouragement to "keep going" to the weary nurses perk them up everyday.
“His daily meals may seem like something small, but to nurses that are working 24 hour shifts dealing with the epicentre of Covid19 patients it's proving inspirational.”
Rockland GAA club have delivered grocery essentials to home-bound elderly members of their community.
The New York football team manager, Gerry Fox, is also doing Trojan work helping to feed staff in four hospitals between New Jersey and the Bronx, so the effort the New York football team management have made as a collective at this time is really quite incredible.
The New York GAA clubs have been very proactive too. Rockland GAA have organised a food-drive for the past number of weeks that has delivered care packages to those most in need in their area.
This week New York Celtics GAA club brought food to the staff of Lawrence Hospital while their younger members designed posters thanking the hospital staff for all their work.
Those are just two examples. Members of every New York GAA club have put their shoulder to the wheel to do all they can to help the Sláinte 2020 fund-raising initiative.
Sláinte 2020’s motto is, Ni neart go chur le chéile – no strength without unity, a very fitting code to live by in these challenging times.
You can support the New York Footballers on their 1,000km run by donating to Sláinte 2020 HERE.