Christine Hennessey, Mary Kane, Elaine O’Connor, Ruth Cunnane and Sharon Regan
Masciovecchio.
Throughout the City of Yonkers, there are certain people that make their neighborhoods or community organizations work, and through their own hard work, talent and efforts, have been able to, at the same time, lift up their community and their organization.
Orla Kelleher, executive director of the Aisling Irish Community Center, is one of those angels in Yonkers, who for more than a decade has shown care and concern for all who enter the center’s doors. Orla came to Aisling Center 14 years ago from Kerry, Ireland, after settling in Yonkers and has been the executive director at the center for the past 12 years.
Orla will be leaving the Aisling Center this week to begin a new journey, but has left a legacy at the center and in the neighborhood.
During Kelleher’s tenure, the center has grown in many ways – doubling its size in square feet, increasing services and staff from two and a half employees to five, and expanding its senior program “Young at Heart” to now hold regular programs four times a week, as well as special events, a speaker program and trips. In addition, the Irish culture programs of music, dance and language continue to bring the Irish culture to the area.
The center added a full-time social worker, who offers free counseling, life coaching, programs and workshops to all.
The Aisling Center was offering computer classes in QuickBooks and other tools of the trade to assist individuals in being more job-ready to find employment, and continues to offer classes for adults but also has added classes for children including STEM and Microsoft. The center was also offering yoga and a mother/toddler class, which is now booked solidly, with classes for children, as well.
The leadership Kelleher shows at the center is displayed by the quality of programs the center is able to offer to everyone from infants to seniors. She has been able to engage local businesses big and small to get involved and support the needs of the center so they can better serve the community. She involves both young and old in the weekly Feeding the Homeless program, which provides a friendly, caring atmosphere for volunteers who want to serve in the community.
The Feeding the Homeless Program has been a focal point of the center. Initiated by a group of volunteers even before the Aisling Center began, the center hosted this program right from its inception 22 years ago, and fully took over the program’s funding and coordination in 2005. This continues to be a vibrant program loved by both the volunteers and the center and valued by those it serves every Monday evening.
During Kelleher’s time at Aisling Irish Community Center, Hurricane Sandy hit and affected neighborhoods so near to Yonkers. Local residents would stop in to charge computers and phone, but in the Rockaways, neighborhoods were demolished. The Yonkers neighborhood turned to the center and within 48 hours, Kelleher had coordinated a drop-and-sort center, delivery vans from Liffey Van Lines, and volunteers to make daily deliveries. Every day for a month, 20 people went out to clean up, deliver and help those in need.
Kelleher said she will always remember this time, and by having the ability to coordinate this challenging endeavor, she feels “they were helping people old and young with food and delivering meds. The volunteers literally saved lives,” she said.
The Aisling Irish Community Center has held Family Fun Days and children’s Christmas parties, as well as a semi-annual photo exhibit, and calendar of events. It has added events both into the center and outside the center, and has brought the book “While Memory Brings Me Back” to the community.
It has also added a development manager and program coordinator to serve the current needs and look for new projects and programs for the area. Kelleher has been quick to assist, engage and respond to anyone who walks through the door, with care and kindness welcoming everyone equally. She has left her mark on the community and has prepared the center to be ready to serve with sincerity and empathy.
Kelleher is the first to say that the center will move on without her and will continue to meet the needs of the community. At the Aisling Center, programs and services focus on emotional and physical well-being through counseling, education, Irish culture, employment and accommodation referrals, legal and immigration referrals, and recreational activities. It offers professional help to those who are vulnerable and suffering social isolation, particularly the elderly, homeless, new arrivals, undocumented, and those with mental health issues.
The center is a vital resource in the community offering free counseling services to anyone who walks into the center. For more information, visit aislingcenter.org.
And thanks to Orla Kelleher for your service and dedication to others, and to your community.
