For more than a decade, Donie Carroll, one of New York City’s great musical fixtures, has organized an annual fundraising concert in support of Mercy Centre USA, an organization founded in 1999 that supports a number of charities in Thailand that provide care, protection and education for the poorest of the poor, in particular the large number of children there who have been abandoned, abused, trafficked, and are living with HIV/AIDS, and who are most in need of care, protection, and education. I always give it a mention here and it’s always a great evening!
Carroll’s annual tradition continues once again on Saturday, Nov. 16, at the New York Irish Center in Long Island City where a knockout lineup of musicians and dancers, including Carroll, Ivan Goff, Katie Linnane, Nuala Kennedy, Tony DeMarco, Don Meade, Liz Hanley, Niall O'Leary School of Irish Dance, Don Penzien, Steve Payne, Heather Bixler, and me, will get together and make a joyful noise in support of this worthy event.
Carroll is a member of Mercy Centre USA’s board of directors and with the annual Mercy Centre concert as its centerpiece, his efforts raise 10s of thousands of dollars year ‘round. It is incredibly important work and there is no better man for it than Carroll.
This year’s event, however, includes a bit of a twist: in addition to the stellar concert the event will also celebrate what would have been the 80th birthday of Mick Moloney. Moloney, who passed away in 2022, was one of traditional music’s greatest performers and also one of its most important scholars. In addition, he was also one of the Mercy Centre’s greatest supporters, having spent the better part of twenty years doing yeoman’s work in fundraising and elevating the organization’s profile in the Irish American community, especially here in New York City. His many concerts over the years, starting with “Irish Musicians for the Mercy Center: In Partnership with the Poor” at Symphony Space in 2008, always included musical greats from groups like Green Fields of America and Cherish the Ladies, to everyone in between.
Moloney also worked with the Mercy Centre on the ground in Thailand, a place he’d made his second home, for twenty years. Tom Crowley, who serves Mercy Centre USA Chairman and who will attend the concert, spent 14 years in Bangkok working at the Mercy Centre and attests to the work Moloney did there. One of his best memories involved seeing the way Moloney used music to help ease the minds of the young people in Mercy’s care. “I was a volunteer and we had about 200 children staying at the Mercy Home, many of them young girls and boys under the age of 12,” he recalled. “Mick and John Murphy, his music partner in Bangkok, would often come by in the early evening and play ballads, Mick on his mandolin and John on the uilleann pipes, to ease the troubled youngsters to sleep.”
Crowley also described that as Moloney’s knowledge of Thailand grew, so did his belief that Thai traditional music should be a central part of the Mercy Centre’s efforts. “In about 2012, Mick founded Mercy’s traditional music and dance program that took place there every Sunday morning. He sponsored the entire program, hiring leading traditional music students from universities in Bangkok to come and teach Mercy kids and staff, paying for the traditional instruments and costumes the student musicians and dancers would need himself. He attended these classes regularly and later agreed with Mercy to provide an endowment so the program could continue on into future years.”
A great cause, concert, and celebration of one of the Mercy Centre’s greatest supporters promise to make this a very special evening, indeed. Tickets are $70 (which includes access to a reception at 7:00pm before the show) and can be had by contacting Carroll directly at DucksyMusic@Gmail.com/917-723-7488. Donations can be made at the New York Irish Center on the night of the concert or online via the Mercy Centre’s website, www.mercycentreusa.org. (And don’t forget, your donations are tax deductible, as the Mercy Centre is a 501c3 organization!) These shows sell out every year, so it’s a good idea to book now if you’re interested in coming – we hope to see you there in support this important cause!
