Irish Kids Program

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ken@mcvickers-ins.com
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Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2004 12:24 pm

Post by ken@mcvickers-ins.com »

This is a not-for-profit fund raising organization that has been in existence for 22 years. Their purpose is to foster relations between Catholic and Protestant children in Northern Ireland. They do this by funding a trip to the USA once per year for about 100 children and Teacher/Chaperones from Ireland. A sister organization in Ireland arranges all transportation and health insurance in Ireland. The children arrive in the USA and are hosted by volunteer families in Chicago Metro area as well as Northern, and Indianapolis, Indiana areas. The families are pre-screened by Catholic Charities, which is a licensed child placement agency. The Host families are not compensated and provide all living and transportation expenses while the children are with them over the five weeks. The ICF has about Six fund raiser each year at local schools and churches / typical pot luck dinners, raffles/silent auction types. They also receive donations from the business community. The Irish children that come here are evenly divided 50/50 between Catholic and Protestant and are accompanied by (7) Irish Adult/Teacher Chaperones. The Chicago Metro area is made up of (5) areas and then there are (2) in Indiana (Merriville and Indianapolis) for a total of (7). The seven areas are: McHenry, North, Central, South, Fox Valley, Merriville, and Indianapolis.

Each area has an Area Coordinator Team consisting of one of the Host Families. Each team (area) is assigned one of the seven chaperones to assist the area coordinator and an even division of Catholic and Protestant children. These (7) Teams meet every month during the year at the ICF Office where they take a Team Course on ICF Guidelines and are given a Guideline Book for further reference. They also plan the activities and develop a Calendar of Events for the children while they are here for 5 weeks. Generally each area will have (2) to (3) mandatory events per week that the Host Families must bring the children to. The idea is to get the kids to mix and get to know one another and hopefully discover that there really is no difference between them. At the events there are generally (4) adults present to assist the Area Coordinator and the Chaperon. The events can range from a cookout, to a scavenger hunt, to a pool party at a local park district. Area wide there are two ICF events that must be attended and these are the two overnight stays at YMCA Camps. One group goes to one in Illinois and the other in Indiana. In addition to the YMCA staff there are from (8) to (20) adults chaperones from the ICF that attend. They do the typical day camp activities and sleep in cabins for one night. After the children return to Ireland all the teams meet to discuss their experiences and use this information for making the next year a better experience for all participants.

We are looking for General Liability Coverage.
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