WORCESTER—Richard Moore lost his sight when he was shot with a rubber bullet by a British soldier in Northern Ireland when he was 10 years old in 1972, but he’s been a visionary for much of his life.
In 1996, Moore founded “Children in Crossfire” which he said has raised more than $90 million to help millions of children in 14 countries in Africa, South America and South Asia.
Over the last 15 years, the organization has focused on Africa, supporting early childhood education for nearly 200,000 disadvantaged young children in Tanzania and Ethiopia and providing such other much needed programs as treating more than 10,000 children for severe acute malnutrition in Ethiopia. The organization trains teachers and builds classrooms.
Moore pointed out that it’s hard to learn if you’re hungry or suffering from diseases by drinking dirty water so Children in Crossfire helps in those areas as well.
The organization also works in Ireland and Northern Ireland to raise awareness of global justice issues and advocate for increased investment in early childhood education.
The Dalai Lama was so impressed with Children in Crossfire he visited Derry in 2007 to honor Moore and he called him his hero.
On Thursday, March 26, a fundraiser for Children in Crossfire is being held at 6 p.m. at Fiddler’s Green Pub at 19 Temple St. The public is welcome. If interested in attending, email worcester@childrenincrossfire.org. Donations are accepted at the door.
Singer and guitarist Mike Ladd performs, hors d’oeuvres are served, and James Leary interviews Moore about his life story.
On May 4, 1972, while Moore was walking home from school in Derry, Northern Ireland, he passed an army lookout post at the edge of his school’s playground. A British soldier fired a rubber bullet from the post from 10 feet away that struck Moore on the bridge of his nose.
This happened just a little more than three months after “Bloody Sunday” occurred in Derry when 14 civil rights marchers, including Moore’s uncle, Gerard McKinney, were shot and killed.
Moore lost one eye completely and sight in the other eye. Attempts in his native country to restore his vision failed. So Derry civil rights activist and political leader John Hume, who later received the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering peace in Northern Ireland, contacted his friend, Dan Herlihy, who had immigrated from Derry to Worcester. The two helped arrange for Moore to go to the world-renowned Mass Eye and Ear hospital in Boston in early 1973.
Herlihy had become good friends with Dr. Raymond McClean, who was Moore’s family doctor and who became mayor of Derry the year Moore came to Worcester.
The hope was that the Mass Eye and Ear doctors who saved the sight of Red Sox star Tony Conigliaro after he was hit in the eye by a pitch in 1967 might also be able to help Moore.
Herlihy, who later served as a Worcester City Councilor in the early 1980s, and other members of Worcester’s Irish community had already formed a committee to raise funds for Irish refugees. When they heard about Moore, they decided to raise funds to fly him to Boston and help pay his medical expenses at Mass Eye and Ear.
Unfortunately, Moore never regained his sight, but Moore said that week in Worcester is like folklore in his family because of the generosity, support and kindness they received.
“Against the backdrop of my parents being told that I deserved to be shot,” Moore said, “that I was a young hoodlum and disinformation like that, to go to Worcester and experience all that genuine kindness and support for me and my parents was seismic and it was a significant building block for me, and helping me accept what happened and helping me see the generosity and kindness that was around me.”
Moore, his brother Kevin and their parents stayed at the Herlihy home in Worcester for a week while he was treated at Mass Eye and Ear. The Herlihy family often had people stay with them.
Mary Herlihy Knittle was the oldest of the five children of Dan and Joan Herlihy. When Moore stayed with them, he was 10 and she was 8.
“It was a time of great excitement which is why we remember it all so well,” Knittle said.
The family had an ice rink in the backyard and Knittle remembers that Moore didn’t wear skates, but he played on the ice with her and her siblings.
“He was really very adaptable,” she recalled. “He wasn’t particularly fragile. He was pretty tough.”
“I have accepted blindness in my life,” Moore said. “I’m a quite happy and content blind person. I have been very content with what happened that day and being shot and have dealt with it quite well.”
Music became a big part of Moore’s life. He learned to play the guitar and in July of 1984 he returned to Worcester with his wife of one week, Rita, and a singing group they had formed with girls from an impoverished section of Derry.
Moore last came to Worcester about 10 years ago to thank his supporters once more. He spoke at Fiddler’s Green, donations were accepted and his memoir, “Can I Give Him My Eyes?” was available for purchase. Knittle helped Timothy Murray, president and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, to organize the event. Moore visited Knittle’s parents during his trip.
“We’ve been in touch ever since,” Knittle said.
Knittle is amazed at all the good work Moore has done.
“To be able to maintain this relationship,” Knittle said, “and to see the strength and force that he brings to his work and he’s helping other people by telling his story and encouraging people. I’m just delighted to know him and I’m really glad that we have an opportunity to bring the people in Worcester together again.”
Knittle visited Ireland in the 1980s and saw the barricades between Ireland and Northern Ireland and she was pleased to see them gone when she returned in the 1990s.
“The thought, the concept, that meaningful peace can come,” Knittle said, “and that someone who went through such horror can be a beacon of that peace or a broker of that peace around the world is really inspirational.”
Some of Knittle’s siblings will be on hand Thursday. So will her mother, Joan, 85.
Moore said any support for Children in Crossfire is appreciated.
“But it’s even more special for me when it comes from Worcester,” he said, “because of that emotional link that I have with the city. When I go there, I feel like I belong there.”
Leary met Moore when Moore last visited Worcester and when they got together last year in Derry Moore showed him the location where he was shot. Leary offered to help organize a fundraiser if he wanted to return to Worcester.
“He speaks so fondly of his time here in Worcester when he was a kid,” Leary said. “You can tell it had a huge impact on him and his parents.”
Moore went on to graduate from Coleraine University, marry and raise two children. In 2006, he sought out the soldier who shot him and forgave him. They remain friends.
“I’ve always forgiven the soldier,” Moore said. “I’ve never had any anger towards the soldier. Never. No bitterness toward the soldier.”
Moore credits his parents. They were brokenhearted over the killing of his uncle and his shooting.
“There were a lot of tears in our house, there was a lot of hurt, but my parents never had any anger,” he said.
He credited their and his strong Catholic faith for that.
“It’s just incredible,” Leary said. “After being shot and blinded when you’re 10 years old and to go through that experience and not be bitter and instead to use it to inspire yourself to start a charity and to work with kids who are in dire need, I just think it’s incredible. He’s really an amazing guy and he’s a very nice guy. He’s just very pleasant to be with, very positive. I think the impact of his work has been amazing. When the Dalai Lama congratulates you for doing great work and calls you his hero, you’ve got to be doing something right.”
Bill Doyle has been a professional journalist for 47 years, most of them as a sports writer for the Telegram & Gazette. He covered the Boston Celtics for 25 years and has written extensively about golf, boxing and local high school and college sports. He also worked for the campus newspaper when he attended UMass-Amherst. He can be reached at billdoyle1515@gmail.com
