– inspired by a donation from a tribe during the Great Famine
Excerpts from an article by By Harmeet Kaur, CNN May 6 2020
People in Ireland inspired by an act of generosity committed more than 170 years ago are paying it forward.
In 1847, the Choctaw people collected $170 to send to people in Ireland who were starving during the potato famine.
The struggles experienced by the Irish were familiar to the tribal nation: Just 16 years earlier, the Choctaw people had embarked on the Trail of Tears and lost thousands of their own to starvation and disease.
Now, donations are pouring in from people across Ireland for a GoFundMe campaign set up to support the Navajo Nation and Hopi reservation during the coronavirus pandemic.
“From Ireland, 170 years later, the favour is returned!” a message from one donor reads. “To our Native American brothers and sisters in your moment of hardship.” Irish have donated about half a million, organizer says.
The donations from Ireland seem to have started after The Irish Times journalist Naomi O’Leary shared the Navajo and Hopi fundraiser on Twitter, garnering thousands of likes and retweets.
To read the entire article, please visit
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/06/world/ireland-native-americans-choctaw-gift-trnd/index.html
