YONKERS NY, Friday, September 28, 2012--Yonkers Raceway Thursday night hosted the several staff members of the Food Bank for Westchester for a night at the races.
The guests, including interim executive director Toby Ives, senior director of
development Katy Coppinger and volunteer coordinator Nancy Lyons, made a
winner's circle presentation to driver Jason Bartlett.
Last month, dozens of Raceway/Empire City employees, along with Standardbred
Owners Association of New York directors and drivers Bartlett, Brent Holland,
Larry Stalbaum and Jordan Stratton, spent an afternoon volunteering at the Food
Bank's Elmsford, NY, operations center, located about 20 minutes north of
Yonkers.
After a tour of the plant, the day's mission was spent packing food--two-pound
bags of navy beans and 12-packs of bagels, to be precise--for countywide
dissemination. Various items are prepared for shipment on any given day
The Food Bank for Westchester, one of eight food banks in New York State, is
the backbone of the county’s emergency food network. It acquires, warehouses
and distributes more than seven million pounds of food annually to over 220
frontline hunger-relief organizations. Those organizations include food
pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, day care and residential programs.
In
early 2012, the Food Bank moved to a larger facility (200 Clearbrook Road in
Elmsford), to get more food out to more of the estimated 200,000 people in
Westchester who are hungry or at risk of hunger. The Food Bank’s mission is to
lead, engage and educate Westchester County residents in creating a hunger-free
environment.
Both the Raceway and the Standardbred Owners have contributed to this worthy cause,
with the SOA's George Casale joining the Food Bank crew in the winner's
circle.
For more information, contact the Food Bank (914-923-1100), or visit them
on-line at www.foodbankforwestchester.org.