We donated $9,500 to charities in 2025, following a one-time $5,000 donation to the Diocese of Arlington in September 2024 to help fund a St. Patrick statue at St. Thomas More Cathedral.
The largest donation we made in 2025 was $1,500 to the House of Mercy food pantry and thrift store, funded by net income from our second annual beer-and-brats dinner held in conjunction with the George Brent Knights of Columbus in October.
Division President Greg Gibbons, right, and Grand Knight Harold Post of the George Brent Knights of Columbus, left, present a symbolic check to the staff of the House of Mercy.
Our annual beer tasting event is held on the Friday before Superbowl Weekend.
In 2025, it yielded a net income of just under $1,000, which we rounded up to make donations of $500 each to two veterans’ charities, ABLE Forces and TAPS.
Another standalone donation was our annual support for the Greater Manassas St. Patrick’s Day Parade, with a $1,000 check to Inishfail, the nonprofit that organizes the parade. This donation aligns with our mission to support and promote Irish culture.
Separately, our charity fund donated $6,000 to a range of local groups supporting health services, Irish culture, and those in need. Our two food drives in May and October, part of our Hunger Project, collected more than 4,000 pounds of canned and boxed food donations from local supermarkets, which we donated to the Bethany Food Pantry at All Saints Catholic Church in Manassas.
Hibernian Chris Sozio delivers bags of donations to the Bethany Food Pantry.
We also donated $1,000 each to the Irish Cultural Center of Virginia, the Mother of Mercy Free Medical Clinic, and Medical Missionaries from our general charities fund.
Division President Greg Gibbons presents our check to the Mother of Mercy Free Medical Clinic.
Division President Greg Gibbons presents our donation to Medical Missionaries.
Donations of $600 each were given to the AOH Project St. Patrick and the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.
Donations of $500 each were given to the Down Syndrome Association of Northern Virginia and the Brain Foundation, which provides housing for people with mental illness.
Hibernian Eric Latcheran presents our check to Alain Noriega, director of the Down Syndrome Association of Northern Virginia.
Ted Moriak, one of the Brain Foundation’s founders, holds the check from our division.
Lastly, we made two $400 donations to the Boyle School of Irish Dance and the Phoenix School of Dance as part of our mission to support Irish culture.
Most of our charitable donations are funded by our annual Trip to Ireland raffle, which sells 1,000 tickets for $10 each. In 2025, we also netted $1,060 by supporting one of the weekly Lenten fish fry dinners sponsored by the George Brent Knights of Columbus and $445 from a mid-September club room event featuring local musician Tim Trant.
$5,000 DONATION FOR ST. PATRICK STATUE
Our division made a $5,000 donation to the new alcove dedicated to St. Patrick at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington to Father Joseph Farrell during our Sept. 9, 2024 monthly business meeting.
In addition, Inishfail Chairman Vincent Fitzpatrick announced a $2,500 contribution from his group, which organizes the Greater Manassas St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
Farrell oversees fundraising for the $100,000 alcove and, as state chaplain of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, has asked divisions throughout the Arlington diocese to contribute to the cost.
OUR 2024 DONATIONS
In 2024, we added a new fundraiser to our calendar: an October beer-and-brats dinner for the House of Mercy food pantry, with the George Brent Knights of Columbus as our cosponsor.
That October event raised $1,350 for the House of Mercy.
Our annual beer tasting, held the weekend before the Super Bowl, raised $1,100, with the funds donated to two veterans charities, Able Forces and TAPS, which received $550 each.
Division Vice President Brian Tumulty, left, and President Greg Gibbons, right, presented a $750 donation to Dr. Gil Irwin of Medical Missionaries.
The donation to Medical Missionaries was part of $5,000 from our charity fund that we distributed to charitable organizations.
Another $750 donation was made to the Mother of Mercy Free Medical Clinic. Two contributions of $600 each were made to AOH Project St. Patrick and the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. Three $500 donations were made to the Irish Cultural Center of Virginia, the Brain Foundation, and the Down Syndrome Association of Northern Virginia.
Finally, we gave two $400 checks to the Boyle School of Irish Dance and the Phoenix School of Irish Dance as part of our mission to support Irish culture.
Two food drives were also held in June and October as part of our Hunger Project program. We collected 1,680 pounds of food in June and 1,440 pounds in October, donating the food to the Bethany Food Pantry at All Saints Catholic Church.
OUR 2023 DONATIONS
In 2023, we gave $4,875 through our charitable fund in addition to $1,200 we donated through our annual beer tasting event, and another $100 to the national AOH’s Freedom for All Ireland Fund.
In addition, we collected 1,621 pounds of food staples at a local supermarket as part of our local Hunger Project program. The Oct. 21 donations were transported to the Bethany Food Pantry at All Saints Catholic Church in Manassas.
The food drive was held at the entrance to the Giant supermarket in the Bull Run Plaza shopping center. As people entered the supermarket, seven Hibernians and three of their family members took turns throughout the day, distributing flyers listing various staples for them to purchase and place in our bins as they left.
The Brain Foundation of Fairfax was a new donation for us in 2023. Ted Moriak, one of the nonprofit’s founders, holds the check from our division.
This nonprofit volunteer group provides affordable housing for those suffering from serious brain diseases, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorders, who are homeless or vulnerable to becoming homeless.
They own and operate nine homes, housing 36 residents who might not otherwise be able to live independently. They pay minimal rent for rooms in houses within walking distance of public transportation and everyday necessities, such as grocery stores. Furnishings and decorations are provided almost exclusively through donations. https://www.brain-foundation.org/index.html
Another new charity for 2023 was Willing Warriors, which received $375.
In addition to those two new charities, our charity fund was used for nine other donations.
The largest single contribution was $600 sent to Medical Missionaries. (https://www.medicalmissionaries.org) Dr. Gil Irwin, a member of our division, is the founder.
More than 200 medical doctors, nurses, dentists, and non-healthcare professionals, such as electricians, plumbers, and mechanics of all faiths, volunteer through Medical Missionaries to serve the poor in the United States and overseas.
Our commitment to Medical Missionaries is longstanding. In 2022, a handful of Hibernians contributed directly to the group by purchasing tickets for a summer fundraiser at Doukenie Winery in Hillsboro, Va. At the event, former Division President Pat Sullivan presented our division’s annual donation check to Dr. Irwin.
Five other organizations each received $500 from our charitable fund. They were the Mother of Mercy Free Medical Clinic, the national AOH’s Project St. Patrick, the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, the House of Mercy, and the Irish Cultural Society of Virginia Inc.
We continued our support for the Irish arts and culture. Two local Irish dancing schools, the Boyle School of Irish Dance and the Phoenix School of Irish Dance, each received $350.
And we made a $350 donation to the Down Syndrome Association of Northern Virginia. Three of our members also volunteered in this organization’s annual Buddy Walk held in October at the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton.
A separately budgeted annual donation is made to the national Ancient Order of Hibernians’ charity, Freedom for All Ireland (https://aoh.com/freedom-for-all-ireland/).
Our third charitable effort is our annual beer tasting held the weekend before the Super Bowl at the Old Towne Sports Pub in Manassas. All net income from the event is split between two veterans’ charities, Able Forces https://www.ableforces.org/ and TAPS www.taps.org. In 2023, each organization received $600 from us.
