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| First Person |
A Gamble that Keeps Paying
Bill Cullen
05/03/2004
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Prospects and Progress
Disadvantaged kids are where I focus all my giving.
We founded the Irish Youth Foundation in 1985. Despite the economic resurgence
in Ireland, there are those who are left behind. The foundation has so far
awarded $35 million for youth projects throughout the country. I personally give
up to a half million dollars a year to the organization, and my company gives a
quarter million. All of the royalties from Penny Apples go to the foundation,
and we have guaranteed a million dollars.
The Irish Youth Foundation provides
opportunities, because there is no advancement without opportunity. As a
teenager, I received a break in the form of a mailing address. I sent out 730
job applications without getting a response. A friend pointed out that it was
probably because my return address was a tenement. He let me use his address,
and I got an interview. I got the job, and eight years later I was general
manager—at 22 years of age!
One of the foundation’s fruits I’m most proud of:
A band of 100 youngsters from Ireland traveled to New York for five days and
took part in the St. Patrick’s Day parade this year. The band started in 1991
with only eight kids. We targeted kids who were joy riding and getting into
trouble during that 3 pm to 6 pm time period between the end of school and when
their parents arrived home from work. We now have 250 musicians, and the band
has won European championships. A small group of volunteers manage the band and
become role models. It is giving the kids a caring adult in their lives. It is
also giving them a marketable skill. If you go to any city in the world, you can
make $100 a day if you play a musical instrument. You might not make money as a
concert artist, but you can always get a job playing at local venues, and those
kids had the trip of a lifetime in the Big Apple.
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