DUBLIN - 700 pounds of donated equipment shipped from the U.S. arrived in Ireland earlier
this month, and will enable a core group of volunteer coaches to get even more children
on a field with a stick and learning to play lacrosse.

The gear including helmets, sticks, gloves, pads, shoes, stick holders and shorts had been
donated by a variety of sources including Catholic University, Hamilton College and
West Genesee High School in upstate New York, but getting it all to Ireland presented
a formidable and potentially expensive challenge.  Then a new Irish Lacrosse Foundation
member, Tom Dwyer, President of Worldnet Shipping, USA, stepped up and donated his
firm's services to get the job done.

Foundation Director of Development, Tony Devine, said "this equipment has enabled us
(Devine, Katelin Billups, Siobhan Carroll and Martin Scanlon) to reach out to children and
young adults and volunteer our time to fulfill a mission of developing lacrosse in Ireland.

"We are getting in to more schools next term and should have a girls league in North
and South Dublin, and the stuff that just came over will be a tremendous help.  We are
all very thankful to anyone who contributed in any way."

A shipment this large required help from many sources, starting with Foundation
Treasurer Jim Carroll who accumulated the donations in a garage in Boonton Twp, NJ,
and then packed them in to six big boxes which Worldnet Shipping of Inwood, New York
picked up in late September.

On Oct. 1 the boxes left New York on a ship bound for England and then Dublin. When
they arrived, Devine picked them up at Port Dublin with a van donated for the task by
Apache Pizza owner Robert Pendalton and his wife, Emily Gore-Grimes.  From there Devine
took them to the home of Liam, Mary and Leonard Skelly for storage, and the Irish Lacrosse
Foundation extends its sincere gratitude to Worldnet Shipping, Apache Pizza, and the
Skelly family for making it possible to accomplish this sizable task.

Foundation Director John Frame added "We would like to thank everyone involved with
their generous donation of equipment and shipping.  You will be pleased to know that
because of your generous assistance we now are able to supply kids in Ireland with
sticks and equipment to help our goal of developing lacrosse here."

"Lacrosse is growing exponentially in Ireland and we desperately need equipment to
help ensure that everyone who wants to play has what they need to do so" said
Foundation Vice President Michael Kennedy.  "Shipments like this go a long way towards
helping us achieve this goal."

Devine, who has led the effort to grow lacrosse with clinics and demonstrations in Ireland
in recent years, said "As soon as we get the kids we'll get some parents too.  We now have
a good supply of many kinds of equipment, but we still need long poles, elbow pads, mesh
stringing kits and regular shafts."

Anyone in the U.S. who may be able to donate equipment can contact the Irish Lacrosse
Foundation by sending an e-mail to irishlacrosseadmin@gmail.com