Shannon and Courtney Goss are excited to have Jade Greer sharing their home for the summer. This is the 25th anniversary of the Irish Children's program in Columbia. On Sunday June 29 at Cardinal Newman's cafeteria, the room was abuzz filled with the chatter of children and their sponsor families. The purpose of the program is to break down religious barriers and help the children make friends they may not be able to make back home.

Northern Ireland is still segregated into Protestant and Catholic sectors. Although the tensions have lessened, there is not much interaction between the factions. The Irish children will be here a month and participate in activities such as soccer, going to Carowinds, children's choir, and golf.

Catholic and Protestant youth of similar age are paired to become friends before the Irish children come to the U.S. Once in the U.S. and settled with their sponsor families, the "buddies" have days set aside to spend time with each other.

The universal first impression of South Carolina from the Irish children was "HOT!" Despite this, all of the participants agreed they are happy to be here. The children and their sponsor families chatted over food provided by Lizard's Thicket and South Side Baptist Church. Most of the children had never traveled abroad before. The adult chaperones had traveled abroad extensively and had certainly been here before as part of this very program.

Fiona Raimey came to Columbia as a child. She now runs the Irish part of the program Matthew O'Brien, from Belfast, was looking forward to spending time with the children and the feeling of fulfillment he gets each time he brings a new group to the States. Matthew has faith that no matter how long the program runs, new people will continue coming, and the old will keep returning.

Fiona Rainey had been here before, and her story is a bit like a fairy tale. Fiona participated in the program as a youth, returned as a junior counselor, met her husband in the program, and went back to Ireland to manage things there.

Rainey has worked for nine years as a chaperone, because she wanted children to continue to have a good experience in the program. Fiona said, "The program is not just me; it's all my friends and my family. They all know about this program even people who never take part in it."

Tarnin McGreevy is here staying with Zachary and Nicholas Arail. Many of the children seem to think this program will change things for them. Brianne wonders if it will change her accent. Daniel and Ryan expect to make many new friends on both sides of the ocean. Gerrid expects to be exposed to different ways of thought.

Hannah and Kyler Spell whose family is hosting Brianne and Leigh are excited to have the girls in their home this summer and look forward to having new friends and new stories to tell.

Jamie Nishamura's family is also hosting a child this summer. The experience has already affected Jamie making her eager to go on an exchange program herself at some time in the future.

Some may return many times, as have Matthew and Fiona.

For her part, board member Katie Herbkersman looks back at a great 25 years of a successful program and hopes the increased costs and fragile world and U.S. economies don't put a damper on things for future groups. This year, airfare more than doubled. The board has had to intensify fundraising efforts.

Ryan Greer and Daniel Henry are spending the summer with David and Margaret Mary Shelito. Fiona Rainey said, "Segregation is still strong. This is the children's chance to make friends they may not be able to make at home."

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Leah McCullough is staying with Carlie, Jamie, and Tracey Nishimura.