After many months of planning for our 175th Anniversary and the hard work by the chairman, Ed Wallace, and especially his on the scene men, Tom Bierne and Jim Burke, and the rest of the committee, a decision has been made to have a Mass and a reception on May 21st 2011 at Old St Patrick’s Church in Lower Manhattan. The Mass has been set for 11:00 a.m. followed by a reception in the Youth Center across the street from the church. National Chaplain, Father Tom O’Donnell will be in contact with Archbishop Dolan to see if he can say the Mass.

Originally, the committee and the National Board had set aside Columbus Day weekend, October 7-9th in New York City, but this just proved to be too cost prohibitive. For a 2 night stay in a hotel, busing to and from Old St Patrick’s, and a banquet outside the Hotel, (which would be much cheaper than in any hotel) would cost approximately $700-$800 PER PERSON, without travel expense, parking or bringing your spouse. We felt, that in this economy, it was not feasible for our members to attend at such a cost. It was then agreed that a one day celebration, closer to our original organizational date, on Saturday, May 21st, was set.

The National Board meeting, in conjunction with the National President’s Dinner, would be held on the original date of Columbus Day weekend, October 7 – 9th, with the meeting and dinner on Saturday October 8^th 2011, in Philadelphia. This would be less expensive and we will continue the celebration of our 175th anniversary at this function. So we will have a celebration in NY on May 21st and the National Board meeting in conjunction with the National President’s Dinner & the Sean MacBride award in Philadelphia on the weekend of October 7th-9th.

We are asking those who can attend the Mass and reception on May 21^st to contact Ed Wallace at 315-686-3917 / ewallac2@twcny.rr.com as we will need a head count as soon as possible.

In conjunction with the 175th anniversary, we have an add journal which will be distributed at the President’s Dinner for those advertisers attending or will be mailed to all others. This Journal will be a history of the AOH for the last 175 years, as well as any division, county or state board who wants to write the history of their entity and sponsor that page. Our Historian, Mike McCormack is the chairman of that committee with Tom O’Donnell as the person to contact to write your own history or sponsor a page. The Journal Committee, besides Mike and Tom consists of Phil Gallagher, John Ridge, John Gara and others who wish to contribute. Contacts for both of these men are: Mike McCormack 631-732-1390 / aohbard@optonline.net and Tom O’Donnell 215-698-7434 / nlnod@comcast.net

For the celebration we have struck a Commemorative Coin. These are a beautiful bronze coin with one of the oldest AOH Logo’s (1890′s) on the front side and the Statue of Liberty and the Liberty Bell on the reverse side. Jere Cole is the chairman for the coins and Sean Pender is also on this committee. Jere Cole can be contacted at : 973-632-7914 or jcole4838@aol.com. Sean Pender at paddyspeed@yahoo.com You may purchase a coin immediately so you get a lower number as all coins are numbered and will be sold in the order they are received.   A form and a check must accompany each purchase so a list of numbers can be tracked. The form will be in each digest until the August/September edition.

The dinner committee will be chaired by Ed Dougherty & Nancy Cullen. Ed can be contacted at: 215-338-4315 or eddoc215@verizon.net and Nancy’s contact is 215-322-0223 or ncp806@verizon.net More information will follow.

We are asking all division, county and state boards to celebrate our 175th year in existence. Take the time to write the history of your division, county or state or if you are relatively new or do not want to write the history, sponsor one of the many pages written by our National Historian. We are also asking each division, county and state to celebrate our anniversary throughout the entire year with a mass at some point and for our State Conventions to do something special to commemorate this pinnacle of our Order. How many organizations do you know who have achieved this honor of being in existence for 175 consecutive years? Right after the New Year a mass mailing will be sent out with all the information, forms, contact information and everything you will need to partake in this special time of our Organization’s festivities.

You may contact the Ad Journal Committee, Tom O’Donnell, Commemorative Coin Chairman Jere Cole or Sean Pender, or Dinner Committee co Chairs Ed Dougherty or Nancy Cullen immediately for more information, to purchase coins, to sponsor or submit History ads or the make reservations for the dinner. ALL OF THEIR CONTACT IS ABOVE.