All eyes were smiling on March 10 in the ballroom of the St. Francis hotel, where the Ireland Funds celebrated its annual San Francisco Gala.
The fete was hopping with tunes by David Martin’s House Party, high-stepping performances by the Michael Dillon School of Irish Dancing and a pounding parade by the Irish Pipers Band of San Francisco. More than 350 guests raised $475K for Ireland Funds, which has supported 3,200 organizations working to promote education, culture, mental wellness and continued peace in Northern Ireland.
“For almost 50 years, the Funds [have invested] in a new generation of young Irish and Irish Americans that will continue to give a hand up to the people coming behind,” said MarjorieMuldowney, the Funds’ West Coast vice president of development.
The evening also honored stalwart Irish Americans: Nob Hill Gazette co-owners Janet and ClintReilly (introduced by University of San Francisco President Fr. PaulFitzgerald) and philanthropist Maureen O’Brien Sullivan. “As the great-grandson of an Irish immigrant who came from County Armagh to San Francisco in the 1880s, and the son of an Irishman who grew up in the Mission District at St. Peter’s Parish, this is a special homecoming,” said Clint Reilly, who, with his wife, received the Funds’ Distinguished Leadership Award. “So much of our city was crafted by Irish Americans. They left their mark on our civic landscape and inspired their descendants to continue their legacy in the values of faith, service and social justice, which permeate our Irish heritage.”
Fund trustee BartMurphy noted that Sullivan — recipient of the Funds’ Lifetime Achievement Award — is a Bay Area native who traces her roots to counties Galway and Carlow. The Stanford University graduate currently serves as a devoted trustee to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Ireland Funds, an association she cherished with her late husband, philanthropist CraigSullivan.
“During a family bike trip in Ireland, as I absorbed the beauty of the hills ... I realized that might’ve been the last view my great-grandfathers saw as they emigrated to America, never again to return home,” she shared.
Receiving a standing ovation, Sullivan — surrounded by her family, including daughter MeaganLevitan, son-in-law DaleCarlson and granddaughter JacquelineCarlson — tipped her hat to her heritage: “It’s quite nice to be given an award for something as pleasurable as being Irish.” 
