HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Ulster Project will not be held in Hutchinson again this year. The mission project which has been in the city since 2000 was also canceled last year due to the pandemic.
Keith Niell, the President of the Hutchinson Ulster Project, says that the situation in Northern Ireland has not eased yet due to the pandemic and bringing the teens here to Hutchinson simply takes too much planning to make it happen this year.
Neill says that the group of students that would have made up the class of 2020 is still young enough that most if not all will still be able to participate in the Ulster Project in 2022 if they choose. Niell also says that they might expand the program to accommodate those who wish to participate when the program kicks off again next year.
The Project came to Hutchinson as a result of researching a Saint Patrick’s Day program in 1999 and an eventual agreement between a group from Trinity United Methodist Church and Holy Cross Catholic Church. The program brings teens of both Catholic and Protestant faith from Northern Ireland to live with teens from Hutchinson for one month during the summer. Together they learn to build relationships and understanding about their very different lives and learn more about their secular differences.
The Ulster Project was started in 1975 by Rev. Kerry Waterstone, a priest in Northern Ireland, in order to provide a safe place in North America for Northern Irish teenagers to discuss the climate of “The Troubles” that was facing them at home.