BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo's Irish Center urgently needs money or it could close its doors for good.
There is a GoFundMe set up and so far it's raised more than $25,000 to try to keep the Buffalo Irish Center afloat.
The Buffalo Irish Center is the cultural home of the Irish community in Buffalo, and it's struggling financially.
"It's existed for 53 years. It's housed in an old YMCA building that was about 50 years old when they bought it," said Tim Flanagan, Buffalo Irish Center Vice Chair.
And generations of Western New Yorkers have celebrated milestones at the Irish Center. It's home to more than a dozen Irish cultural organizations, a bar and restaurant, and banquet space. But, without financial support, the Irish Center could close its doors.
"We're in a situation now, I mean not unfamiliar territory to a lot of bars and restaurants in the summertime if you're not on the water, it's hard to bring people in, and the Irish Center is really just financially in a tough place. We're based, run by volunteers I should say, right? So everything we do, we're asking people to give up their time and anything they can do and so it just kind of wears on people a little bit and so we definitely need funds to fix a one-hundred-year-old building," Flanagan said.
The Irish Center also just recently started running the Irish Festival, which will help fund it.
"It needs a new roof, it needs new plumbing, it needs new electrical. The HVAC in one of our rooms just went, so there's a lot there that needs to be fixed and we're just trying to figure out a strategic plan on how to move forward and fund those things," Flanagan said.
The Irish Festival at the Outer Harbor goes until 10 Friday night and continues this weekend.