Sports festival aids charity
Sports festival raises $15,000 for Ronald McDonald House
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » A recent All-Star Sports Festival, hosted by Saratoga Casino Hotel, raised $15,000 for Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Capital Region.
Casino Hotel Vice President Skip Carlson recently presented a check for this amount to Ronald McDonald House Charities Executive Director Jeff Yule.
The All-Star Sports Festival brought together more than a dozen major league baseball, NFL and thoroughbred racing Hall of Fame celebrities for a softball game, attended by hundreds of spectators.
The athletes participated in a full day of activities that also included autograph signings and a home run derby featuring former Oakland A’s slugger Jose Canseco.
A portion of all ticket sales, plus proceeds raised from Canseco’s home run derby, were donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities, which gives families of critically-ill children comfort and support during times of hardship.
Yule said Ronald McDonald House Charities can host more than 25 families at a time.
“On average, it costs us about $80 a day for every guest we welcome to the Ronald McDonald House,” he said in a news release. “We’re very grateful for donations like these which allow us to keep opening our hearts and our doors to these deserving families.”
Carlson said in the release, “The Ronald McDonald House seemed like an obvious choice for us when it came time to select a charity to support with
this event. We’ve been longtime supporters of theirs and we have a tremendous admiration for the remarkable work they do in our community.”
Other celebrity athletes who participated were baseball Hall of Famers Goose Gossage and Wade Boggs, former Yankees Graig Nettles and Mickey Rivers, former Mets All-Star pitcher Dwight Gooden; New York Giants football greats Lawrence Taylor and Otis Anderson; and racing Hall of Fame jockeys Ron Turcotte, Jean Cruguet, Steve Cauthen and Angel Cordero Jr.
“We spent a considerable amount of time planning the All-Star Sports Festival with the intent of creating an event that would be a big draw for a large audience,” said Tom Engle, Casino Hotel spokesman, in the release. “To secure the appearances of the athletes, we worked with a sports marketing agency from New Jersey. In the planning process, it remained important for us to tie this event to a local charity, and based on need and the services they provide, The Ronald McDonald House Charities was an ideal fit. We’re very happy with the turnout and feedback we got from both our guests and The Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Capital Region.”