Irish American and New York City mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn has said in a recent video that she is thankful for the Gaelic Players Association volunteers who recently came out to Breezy Point in Queens to help rebuild in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

The project to bring GPA volunteers to Breezy Point was spearheaded by GPA chairman Dónal Óg Cusack along with former Dublin All-Ireland winning manager Pat Gilroy following the visit of the GAA/GPA All-Stars to the Rockaway Peninsula last November. 

Having witnessed the Hurricane Sandy devastation first hand during their November trip, the GPA pledged to return to assist with the local CYO Athletic Programme which caters for the youth of this unique Irish-American community.

Now, Deputy Mayor Christine Quinn is expressing her gratitude for the team of 18 GPA volunteers who came to Breezy Point on tickets donated by Aer Lingus.

In a video, Quinn thanks the GPA, the Irish government and Aer Lingus. 

“You guys came out here, slept in firehouses, worked around the clock, cleaning up, rebuilding and helping people get their lives back together, and that was enormously helpful,” Quinn said as ahe expressed her thanks to the GPA volunteers.

Quinn equates the GPA’s visit to Breezy Point to that of rockstars to the fiercely Irish American community, especially when they had the Sam Maguire cup in tow. 

“It was exactly the kind of motivating, uplifting thing we needed in Breezy Point in a really, really dark hour.”

“You made me proud, yet again, to be an Irish American,” Quinn said before inviting the GPA to come back to New York soon.

Check out Christine Quinn’s video here:

Video by Darren Redmond of IrishCentral.com