Save the date to welcome the new HFB cohort. The evening of June 18. Details coming soon.

When: Starting at 7 pm Thursday June 15, 2023

Where: Roosevelt High School Library

Spread the word, alumni are invited, bring people from your year to join us.

Please join us for a fun evening filled with fantastic auction items, hors d’oeuvres, refreshments and entertainment. This is not your standard sit-down auction, but a lively social event with opportunities to mingle, bid on hundreds of items, and enter raffles.

Most importantly this is an opportunity to engage and connect with the Hands For A Bridge community and its goals.

Sponsorships are welcome, as are donations. More auction information is available here.

We look forward to seeing you at the auction!

When: Starting at 6:30 pm Wednesday June 1, 2022

Where: Roosevelt High School Commons

Spread the word, alumni are invited, bring people from your year to join us.

2008 Kara and Doug at Oakgrove

Fifteen years ago in 2007, so the story goes, John Harkin at Oakgrove Integrated College in Derry/Londonderry, received an email from Douglas Holwerda in Seattle requesting permission to visit, and since that time, an unbreakable bond was formed. Apparently, Mr. Harkin didn’t realize initially what this meant – a group of American students and teachers coming to stay and needing host families. But, as ever resourceful and energetic, Mr. Harkin came through and fifteen years later several of us educators in Seattle and over 100 young people call Oakgrove our second home.

As we sit in Seattle in February of 2022 and look back over the years, we get a little bit of “something in our eyes” thinking about the amazing experiences gifted to us in Northern Ireland by Mr. John Harkin and Oakgrove College. This is, after all, the time of year for HFB travel! Every year, driving over the hill to view the Foyle River and the historic walls, we know we are home. It is difficult to select only a few of the many memories to share, but we will try to do our best.

2010 Cathedral Youth Club music with R Arbuckle

Dramatic theatre ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­has played a big role in our learning and teaching in our Northern Ireland visits over the years. And we learned early on in our visits that the need to address the mental health of our young learners is universal. From drama class enactments at Oakgrove to professional productions on the stage of the Derry Playhouse and the Lyric Theatre in Belfast, we were confronted with social issues of paramount significance to youth in the US and Northern Ireland. The connection to Foyle Search and Rescue, the volunteer organization that patrols the Foyle River, saving lives and bringing closure to families, grew out of drama productions on youth suicide, and led to a classroom visitation to Roosevelt in Seattle by Patricia Byrne, Artistic Director of Sole Purpose Productions in Derry and author of “Blinkered.” We came full circle when our young travelers participated in the formation of the RHS Student Suicide Prevention Team. Thus, a clear demonstration that the dramatic arts are crucial to changing lives for the better.

2010 Retreat at Corrymeela

What a joy it was in 2014 to see Roosevelt Hands for a Bridge students serving ethnic food alongside their Oakgrove buddies at the massive Multicultural Evening, at The Venue during the City of Culture celebration of the Walled City! At Corrymeela, a center for Peace and Reconciliation, we held retreats around a cozy peat fire in the big room, singing, journaling and baring our souls in order to form closer bonds. Nothing clears the cobwebs from the mind like a cold, clear stroll on a freezing beach on the Antrim Coast with views of Rathlin Island.

The power of the personal story is integral to our visits to Oakgrove since 2007. In an historically divided society, listening with open hearts and minds to multiple stories from diverse perspectives helped us see the humanity in each other. We took lessons from the stories told by Richard Moore – blinded as a child by a British soldier, by Kathleen Gillespie  – whose husband was forced by the IRA to drive a van loaded with explosives into a British Army checkpoint, by members of the Apprentice Boys historical marching society, by the founders of the Museum of Free Derry – all these stories reminded us that we need to conduct this same practice at home. Whose stories are we not hearing at Roosevelt, Seattle, in our own country?

We, the Seattle educators, who traveled to Oakgrove and stayed in our “wee” flat on Pump Street, wish to celebrate our love of this city and of the people who made us feel welcome. Over almost a dozen visits we’ve played with primary school students, chatted with middle schoolers, danced with high schoolers and become better humans because of those we’ve met.

2015 Walking on the Derry Walls with Mr. J Harkin

2016 Tour with D Mules

2019 Bloody Sunday Memorial

Dear HFB Community,   Join us for an extra special alumni reunion as we celebrate Tom Nolet’s retirement!

Catch up with alumni and teachers, play lawn games and join Mr. Nolet in a jam session.  When:  Thursday, August 8th, 5:00 to 8:00pmWhere:  Ravenna Park Picnic Shelter Park Map

Please bring a side dish or dessert to share.
Please bring a musical instrument if you want to jam.
Drinks, hot dogs and veggie burgers will be supplied at the BBQ.
Parents always welcome! 
After Party for the 21 and over crowd will meet at Burke Gilman Brewing Company from 8:15 to 9:30. Join for both events or meet us there.   Questions? Contact Kara Macdonald at kara@handsforabridge.org

Please join us to bid farewell to the HFB Class of 2019 and to welcome the HFB Class of 2020. The HFB Year End Celebration includes student performances, song, dance, tasty desserts, and the opportunity to engage with HFB past, present, and future. We hope you can join us!

Thank you for all who helped with another successful auction. This is the time of year when current Hands for a Bridge students from Seattle, Northern Ireland and South Africa connect face-to-face, by traveling across the world to develop a global dialog about peace and justice.