Alliance Ulster Project desperate for host families for June event
Organizers of the Alliance Area Ulster Project say the need is urgent for host families for this summer’s event.
From June 26 to July 18, teenagers from Northern Ireland will visit Northeast Ohio and stay with families in the Alliance area while they take part in volunteer activities, travel and education opportunities.
More: Alliance Area Ulster Project returns after 3-year hiatus
Organizers also seek a male older than age 21 to serve as a counselor for the males from Northern Ireland. The perfect candidate is described as someone who is currently in college, possibly Ulster Project alumni, or one who does not have a commitment to a job for the three weeks the project is in session.
Those interested in information on taking part, or who want to apply, should check www.aaupusa.com.
Rebecca Umberger of Alliance, the program’s chairperson, said the long-running national program is needed now more than ever.
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She cited increased unrest in Northern Ireland at a time when the country has been marking the 25th anniversary of what’s known as the Good Friday Agreement, or Belfast Agreement, that ended a long-running, violent battles between Catholics and Protestants in the country.
This year’s project is to include four boys and four girls, ages 14 to 17, from Belfast. Both faiths will be present. The group will mingle, participate in joint activities and attend each other's church.
The program works to show the students how people of different faiths can co-exist peacefully.
"We might not hear of bombings (now)," Umberger said in an interview last month with The Canton Repository. "But they still don't intermix. They don't have that melting pot in Northern Ireland."
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Umberger said the organization has been reaching out to groups such as area schools and churches to attract families.
The Ulster Project pairs its visiting students with local families that have children of the same age group. Males reside with families that have males of a similar age, and vice versa. Families can be from places in the greater Alliance area, including the townships of the Marlington district, Sebring, Hartville and North Canton, for example.
Umberger said the program needs to have families in place by about May 26, which is 30 days before the students arrive, “so that we have time to meet with the families in their homes and allow the teens to make connections prior to their arrival once we match them with their US teens and host families.”
She said families can get a lot out of the experience.
“Apart from the activities we plan for the teens that they can participate in (Cedar Point, family picnics, community service) … the families experience a cultural phenomenon, living with someone and learning about the culture and differences between the US and Northern Ireland,” she said. “We also like to educate them on the history of Northern Ireland as well as why the importance of developing parity between the religions here on neutral ground in the US is so important.”
The family of Nicholas Kish, a Marlington graduate from Alliance, was a host family in 2017. He now is a pre-med student at University of Akron. He described the experience as "a pretty formative summer for younger me."
"It really expanded my world view outside of the U.S. and altered how I thought about Christianity and religious struggles that still exist in the world," Kish said. "I spent a whole month having fun, volunteering and getting to know a whole group of teens from Northern Ireland, which was an experience I never imagined I'd have previously. I made a number of friends, both American and Irish, that I still keep in touch with to this day.
"Becoming more comfortable with my religion in the process was an added bonus, really. The experience was meaningful for a lot of different reasons, and I highly recommend it because of that."
The Alliance Area Ulster Project returns this summer from a three-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The program resumes and the Irish students arrive when Americans are experiencing violence involving young people across the country and increased political strife. Not a problem, said Ulster Project officials.
“While the teens are here, we focus on team-building and leadership as well as learning diversity across the Project and focus on how we can teach one another acceptance,” Umberger said. “The idea is that the teens (both American and Irish) will embrace these leadership traits and carry them onward into the community as they become leaders in their community, whether within their family, faith, their work, or political arenas. This is a faith-based peacekeeping mission, so we try to focus on what brings us together.”
On the Alliance Area Ulster Project's group Facebook page, organizers share a video from the daughter of a former host family in Tennessee who explains the impact the project has had on her.
Identified only as Zoe, she said as an only child, she was quite nervous before the 2018 arrival of the Irish youths. "It's such a good experience to grow with people, with God, people your age," she said. "You make all these friendships that you wouldn't have made before."
She said she remains grateful years later. "It's just so comforting to know that I have friends that are half a world away that I wouldn't have had before if I didn't have the experience," she said.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Alliance Area Ulster Project desperate for host families for June event
