A coalition of Irish American groups in New York's Suffolk County have joined in a campaign to raise funds for a memorial to the 1916 Easter Rising.

Members of the local chapter of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Emerald Societies of the Suffolk County Police and Fire Departments and the Gerry Tobin Irish Language School plan to erect the memorial behind the Peter Cohalan Court complex in Central Islip, on land already designated by the county government.

The memorial will consist of a 10' by 10' block made of granite and limestone, engraved with the names of the patriots executed by the British after their surrender, the text of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, and a rendering of the Dublin General Post Office, which served as the headquarters of the revolutionaries.

The groups have raised about half of the $80,000 needed to erect the monument, and hope to raise the rest by October, so they will be able to target the dedication on the centennial of the Rising in April 2016. A benefit is planned for September 28 at Flanagan's Pub in Ronkonkoma.  Another 1916 monument was built on Long Island, in Mineola, the seat of adjacent Nassau County, dedicated in 1979.

For more information, e-mail Chris Thompson, at  cthompson@suffolk1916memorial.org and visit the project's website, at http://www.suffolk1916memorial.org.