Oakland A's Pitcher Sean Doolittle, Girlfriend Eireann Dolan, Host Syrian Refugees for Thanksgiving in Chicago
By Lisa Fernandez ••
Oakland A’s pitcher Sean Doolittle and his activist girlfriend Eireann Dolan, who is a native of Illinois, hosted 17 Syrian refugee families for a Thanksgiving meal in Chicago on Wednesday night with Mayor Rahm Emanuel as a special guest.
The idea of whether to accept Syrian refugees has become controversial as of late, as some critics fear that terrorists could slip in as desperate families seek safe shelter from their war-torn homeland.
But the couple shunned those worries, and instead decided to act how they think all Americans should.
“Chicago is so lucky to have 17 Syrian refugee families now officially calling it home,” Dolan wrote on Instagram. “We thought we'd officially welcome them with one of our greatest American traditions, Thanksgiving.”
Her photo shows women in hijabs and a young boy wearing a Cubs baseball cap seated around a festive table, dotted with Pepsi, flowers and cranberry sauce.
A photo posted by Eireann Michael Dolan (@eireanndolan) on Nov 25, 2015 at 7:48pm PST
A’s spokesman Ken Pries told NBC Bay Area on Friday the power couple hosted the dinner on Wednesday and have no personal connection with the refugees. The city of Chicago and the mayor helped put them in contact with the group, he said.
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Refugees and migrants watch on from a rubber boat as a search and rescue crew member from the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) Phoenix vessel helps a child into a rescue boat on May 18, 2017 off Lampedusa, Italy.
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A rescue crew member from the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) 'Phoenix' vessel reaches out to pull a man into a rescue craft after a wooden boat bound for Italy carrying more than 500 people partially capsized on May 24, 2017 off Lampedusa, Italy.
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Refugees and migrants are seen swimming and yelling for assistance from crew members from the 'Phoenix' vessel after a wooden boat bound for Italy carrying more than 500 people capsized on May 24, 2017 off Lampedusa, Italy.
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Refugees and migrants wait to be rescued from an overcrowded boat by crew members from the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) vessel on May 18, 2017 off Lampedusa, Italy.
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A man keeps warm under a blanket on board the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) Phoenix vessel after being rescued at sea on May 18, 2017 in the Lampedusa, Italy.
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A small rubber boat overcrowded with refugees and migrants passes a boat set alight by rescue crews from the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) Phoenix vessel after all passengers were rescued on May 18, 2017 in the Lampedusa, Italy.
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Refugees and migrants put on life jackets distributed by rescue crews of the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) 'Phoenix' vessel on May 24, 2017 off Lampedusa, Italy. The boat, one of three in the area later capsized killing more than 30 people. Crew members from the 'Phoenix' rescued 603 people.
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A migrant from Togo sails towards the Italian port of Pozzallo after being rescued off Libyan coast north of Sabratha, Libya on Feb. 19, 2017. More than 466 migrants were rescued in high seas Friday by the Italian Coast Guard and the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms rescue vessel Golfo Azzurro.
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Syrian Hossia Mohamad, 3, is assisted by members of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms as he and his family are rescued from a wooden boat at 30 miles north of Sabratha, Libya on Feb. 18, 2017.
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Refugees and migrants are transferred to the Spanish Proactiva Open Arms NGO rescue vessel Golfo Azzurro after being rescued by the Italian Coast Guard at 24 miles north of Sabratha, Lybia on Feb. 17, 2017.
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Police in Pozzallo, Italy identify migrants disembarking from the a Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms rescue vessel after being rescued north of Sabratha, Libya on Feb. 19, 2017.
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Migrants warm themselves by the fire inside a derelict customs warehouse on Jan. 8, 2017, in Belgrade, Serbia.
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Migrants rest wrapped in blankets inside a derelict customs warehouse on Jan. 7, 2017, in Belgrade, Serbia. Temperatures dropped to as low as -11.
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A group of migrants walk inside of a derelict customs warehouse occupied by migrants on Jan. 5, 2017, in Belgrade, Serbia.
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A child holds a rose as he walks at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 53 miles north of Athens, Nov. 22, 2016. Around 680 people are staying in new container houses as over 62,000 refugees and migrants are stranded in Greece after a series of Balkan border closures.
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Migrants wrapped in blankets disembark from the vessel Responder, run by the Malta-based NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) and the Italian Red Cross, in Vibo Valentia, southern Italy, Nov. 7, 2016. Some 400 migrants were disembarked after being rescued at sea in different rescue operations.
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Police officers form a line to push back people after fires were started in the makeshift migrant camp known as "the jungle" near Calais, northern France, Oct. 26, 2016.
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A man prevents people from a burning wooden house in the makeshift migrant camp known as "the jungle" near Calais, northern France, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016. Crews have started dismantling the migrant camp in France after the process to clear the camp began in earnest on Monday.
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Care workers bring child migrants to a reception point outside the Jungle migrant camp before boarding buses to refugee centers around France on Oct. 24, 2016, in Calais, France. French authorities have begun to clear the estimated 7000 people from the Jungle migrant and refugee camp ahead of its demolition.
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Migrants line-up to register at a processing center in the makeshift migrant camp known as "the jungle" near Calais, northern France, Oct. 24, 2016.
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Yesa, 6, from Syria, holds his kite that he made with a the sticks of a broken tent as he poses for a portrait on the tracks of a rail way station which was turned into a makeshift camp crowded by migrants and refugees at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, May 3, 2016.
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A Syrian woman cooks at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on May 10, 2016.
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Pope Francis meets migrants at the Moria detention center on April 16, 2016, in Mytilene, Lesbos, Greece.
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A man holds a banner near tents set up near railway tracks at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Wednesday, March 16, 2016. Leaders of the EU's 28 divided nations plan to reconvene in Brussels this week in hopes of ironing out disagreements on a proposed agreement with Turkey in the migrants crisis.
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Migrants stage a protest march about the continued closure of the Macedonian Greek border the Idomeni refugee camp on March 13, 2016, in Idomeni, Greece. Humanitarian workers have described the conditions at the camp as desperate, which has been made much worse by recent bouts of heavy rain.
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A man carries a baby as migrants cross a river, north of Idomeni, Greece, attempting to reach Macedonia on a route that would bypass the border fence, March 14, 2016.
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Syrian refugees receive humanitarian aid as they wait at a makeshift camp along the Greece-Macedonia border in Idomeni village, Greece, on March 11, 2016, to cross Macedonia.
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A girl cries as migrants cross a river, north of Idomeni, Greece, attempting to reach Macedonia on a route that would bypass the border fence, March 14, 2016.
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Refugees wash a new born baby as they stay in tents that they set up in the Idomeni town in Greece, near the Macedonian border on March 6, 2016.
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Refugees protest at a refugee camp near the Greece-Macdonia border, which has become overcrowded as refugees continue to arrive from Athens and the Greek Islands on February 27, 2016, in Idomeni, Greece.
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A Syrian man plays with his 1-year-old child as refugees and migrants wait to be allowed to cross the border to Macedonia in the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, March 1, 2016. Some 7,000 migrants, including many from Syria and Iraq, are crammed into a tiny camp at the Greek border village of Idomeni, and hundreds more are arriving daily.
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Hundreds of used life vests lie on a makeshift rubbish dump hidden in the hills above the town on March 10, 2016, in Mithymna, Greece. The vests were used by refugees and migrants after crossing the sea from Turkey to Lesbos.
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A woman walks down train tracks with a child towards a refugee camp at the Greek-Macedonia border on March 5, 2016 in Idomeni, Greece.
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A migrant watches as a hut burns as police officers clear part of the 'jungle' migrant camp on February 29, 2016 in Calais, France. The French authorities have begun dismantling part of the migrant encampment in the northern French town of Calais and relocating people to purpose-built accommodation nearby.
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A protester with a red nose poses in front of a police cordon at the Greek-Turkish border on Jan. 24, 2016. Police blocked the protesters from reaching the border post.
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Migrants watch as others travel by dingy from Turkey to Greece, Nov. 9, 2015.
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An Iranian migrant sews his mouth shut during a protest at the Greek-Macedonian border, on Nov. 23, 2015.
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A migrant uses a blanket to warm, as he waits in no man's land to be allowed to pass the Greek-Macedonian border, near the northern Greek village of Idomeni, on Nov. 26, 2015.
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A young boy is held by police after trying to jump the queue as migrants board trains and busses at the train station in Beli Manastir, near Hungarian border on Sept. 18, 2015 in Beli Manastir, Croatia.
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Young children eat milk powder as they wait for a bus in a temporary holding center for migrants near the border between Serbia and Hungary, Sept. 13, 2015.
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Syrian refugees react as they arrive after crossing aboard a dinghy from Turkey, on the island of Lesbos, Greece, Sept. 7, 2015.
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Migrants help an elderly man to cross tracks at the railway station in Budapest, Hungary, Sept. 3, 2015.
The A’s kicked off LGBT Pride Night in June, which sparked some homophobic reaction, such as season ticket holders indicating they wanted to sell their tickets.
Dolan, who said she has two “super gay” moms, and Doolittle offered to buy any unwanted tickets up to $3,000, and donate the tickets to the Bay Area Youth Center’s Our Space community for LGBTQ youth.
