GAELIC SPEAKING AND ROCKAWAYS ARE TOPICS AT IRISH SOCIETY MEETING

A man who as an adult has gained proficiency in Irish Gaelic and who has worked on Sandy relief in the Rockaways will speak at the Irish Cultural Society meeting on Wednesday, March 13 at 7:30 p.m. in the Garden City Library, 60 Seventh Street, across the street from the Garden City Hotel.  The meeting is free and open to the public.

The speaker is Ed Shevlin who will speak about his journey to proficiency as a speaker of Irish.  Mr. Shevlin, a “fear bruscar” in Irish (sanitation man), took up the study of Irish after hearing Irish spoken along his collection route in the Rockaways.  In his talk, he will relate the story, still unfolding, of a man who went from being an indifferent student to being the winner of a Fulbright grant to study the Irish language in Galway in a month long immersion program.  Also part of Mr. Shevlin’s presentation will be his plans for his future in education.  Mr. Shevlin has twice been the subject of the Character Study column by Corey Kilgannon in the New York Times.  He is currently the New York City Council Irish Man of the Year, recipient of the Thomas Manton Award.  Other Thomas Manton Award winners include Senators Edward Kennedy and George Mitchell, and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Mr. Shevlin has been immersed in the clean up in the Rockaways as part of the New York’s “Strongest” role in the aftermath of the Sandy disaster.  One of his pictures in the New York Times shows Mr. Shevlin standing in front of a mountain-sized pile of debris in the Riis Park parking lot from the ruined homes and businesses in the Rockaways.  Mr. Shevlin will include in his presentation his experiences at the place so familiar to Irish immigrants and Irish-Americans.  He will tell his audience about the generosity of the Irish community in assisting in the recovery in the Rockaways.  He will also have time for a word about the 12/12/12 Concert to which he was invited.  Mr. Shevlin’s is a unique story of an educational achievement supplemented by a report on a timely topic.

President Martin Kelly will wish the members of the audience a Happy St. Patrick’s Day.