Denis Mulcahy founded this group called Project Children forty years ago at a time when conflict between Catholic and Protestants in Northern Ireland was raging. Denis was a NY City policeman on the bomb squad for over twenty years. He began bringing young kids from Belfast over to America as a form of reconciliation between the two groups. He raised all of the funds for their air fare and arranged housing with American families throughout the US for 8 weeks. The first week of their stay would be working with Habitat for Humanity affiliates. The last 7 weeks, the individuals were placed in internships with US companies in their respective fields of study. To date, Project Children has sponsored over 26,000 kids to experience life outside the conflict in Northern Ireland. This past week we hosted a group of 22 college students who worked with us on three different homes for Habitat Tuscaloosa. Two are new homes, nearly completed and the third was a total rehab project that 8 of the group helped to finish up and get the owner, Mr. Bishop, moved back in. The weather this year was a wee bit kinder than their trip last year, when it was in triple digits for the week they were here. This year it was only in the low 90's. Five of the group are law students, so I arranged a visit with our friend and Federal Judge, Scott Coogler, for a tour of the new federal courthouse during the week.
     Besides Denis, there are Brendan, Sam, Pat and Gwen for adult supervision and Gwen did all of the cooking . Most of the adults were here last year as well.
     So, we got Mr. Bishop's punchlist done and all of the tools and materials shipped off and out to the next site. One of the highpoints for me on that project was the handrail that we had gotten from a sorority house that was being demolished. We re-cast the front steps (which needed adjustment anyway) to fit the two sections of handrail. Didn't cost nuthin' and looks great and didn't go in the landfill.
     Monday is my 31st wedding anniversary. My wife Lois and I, along with 2,074 other couples were married in a small intimate ceremony in New Yorks's Madison Square Garden on July 1st, 1982.
When asked to what I attribute the long lasting nature of our relationship, I usually attribute it to two things: One- we love each other dearly and two- we live in different states. Pray for us, though. Thanks.   Peter