Hingham resident Ken Casey, the founder of the Celtic-style punk band, will be at the John F. Kennedy Library with other band members Friday night. They'll get the “Embracing The Legacy” award from the Robert F. Kennedy Children's Action Corps. The band is also marking its 20th anniversary.

HINGHAM – Ken Casey is back home in Hingham, after a three-week recording session out in Texas with his band, the Dropkick Murphys. But he isn’t getting ready for a concert.

He and his mates will be at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum Friday night, to receive an award for the band’s charity, the Claddagh Fund.



They’re getting the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps’ “Embracing the Legacy Award,” for work and funding the band have provided for Boston’s Franciscan Hospital for children, My Brother's Keeper and other social programs.



“We’re not really big on awards,” Casey said Tuesday in a Patriot Ledger phone interview. “But when something is in the namesake of Robert Kennedy, it’s an extreme honor. We’re very excited about it.”



They’ll be honored along with Boston real estate developer and philanthropist Joseph Corcorcan, Thaddeus Miles of the state's MassHousing agency, and Boston College Law School professor Francine Sherman.



The award comes as the Celtic-style punk band marks the 20th anniversary of its start in Quincy. Casey – who grew up in Milton – founded the Claddagh Fund in 2009, with the encouragement of Bruins hockey great Bobby Orr, among others. Since then the fund has raised and donated millions of dollars.



The charity takes it name from the traditional Irish claddagh ring – which symbolizes friendship, love and loyalty – and Casey said the charity likewise focuses on three kinds of programs, for youngsters, military veterans and people with drug and alcohol addiction.



“We had always done a lot of charity work with the band anyway,” he said. “I had a conversation with a couple of guys I respect a lot, and they said we needed to capture the imagination of our fan base, instead of doing everyone else’s charity.”



“Who in the world doesn’t hate to see a kid suffer?” Casey said. “We’ve been impressed by how loyal veterans have been to us, so we wanted to give back to them.”



As for donating to substance abuse programs, “We’ve been heavily affected by families and friends (with addiction), the nearest and dearest to us.”



Besides the Franciscan Hospital and My Brother’s Keeper, the Claddagh Fund works with the Dorchester Boys and Girls Club, the Gavin Foundation’s substance abuse programs and Boston’s Ostiguy High School for teenagers who are recovering addicts.



Casey said the Ostiguy High graduations are “one of my highlights of the year.”



“These are families who didn’t think their kid would get out of high school or make it, period,” he said.



Fundraising includes everything from big events such as the April 30 celebrity hockey tournament to “kids mailing in a $5 donation,” Casey said. The band donates $1 from every concert ticket, and they give proceeds from “meet and greet” events with fans to the fund.



After the Kennedy Action Corps awards dinner, the Dropkick Murphys will be home just two weeks before they ship out for a June tour in Europe, including their first concert in Greece.



Casey said the album they just finished recording at a ranch studio outside El Paso, Texas, will be released sometime between November of this year and January 2017. The band wants to issue the CD and vinyl versions together.



Now 47, Casey said he never thought he’d still be touring, 20 years after “what was supposed to be a joke.”



He still enjoys telling the story of how he quickly gathered his original group while attending the University of Massachusetts-Boston and bartending at Symphony Hall. A college student also working there dared Casey to open for his own band – so Casey did.



“We started at a barber shop at the corner of Hancock and Beale in Wollaston,” Casey said. “I put together a band to win the bet. And here we are.’



