WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: Pictured above: United Steelworkers (USW) District 4 Director John Shinn (on the left), Niagara-Orleans AFL-CIO Central Labor Council President Jim Briggs - who also serves as USW District 4 Sub-Director (in the middle), and Greater Niagara United Way President Connie Brown attend the 2018 Labor Night at the Races’ Annual Fundraiser that was held Friday, June 8th at Ransomville Raceway in Niagara County.  (Greater Niagara United Way Photo)

(RANSOMVILLE, NEW YORK) – While the final numbers are still being tabulated, it would appear the Labor’s Night at the Races’ Annual Fundraiser to benefit the Greater Niagara United Way is back on track to breaking the $10,000 mark once again in 2018.

More than 600 tickets were sold for Friday’s (June 8th) event that was held at Ransomville Speedway.  Niagara-Orleans AFL-CIO Central Labor Council/United Way Labor Liaison Bill Jakobi told WNYLaborToday.com “the place was packed.” 

“We’ll be making the tabulations over the next week or two, but ‘I think were in the ballpark’ (of what is annually raised at the event),” said Jakobi, who noted Adult tickets went for $17, which children’s tickets went for $10. (Pictured below: Niagara-Orleans Labor Council/United Way Labor Liaison Jakobi (on the left), his wife, Barb (in the middle) and Labor Council Board Member Mark Hewitt of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 237 – Photo Courtesy of the Greater Niagara United Way).

In 2017, the Labor’s Night at the Races fundraiser raised $15,000 to bring the total of the nine-year event to nearly $100,000.  In each of the previous past three years, the fundraising total has been broken by about $1,000 in each of those years.  

The dollars raised by the event goes to assist fund 44 area community programs, including - but not limited to, the Boy’s and Girl Scouts organizations, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, youth counseling services, credit counseling services and a variety of family and health services.

Niagara-Orleans Labor Council President Jim Briggs, who also serves as Sub-District Director for United Steelworkers (USW) District 4, told Your On-Line Labor Newspaper the event “went great” and that he was “very happy” with Friday night’s turnout. 

“It was a ‘typical’ dirt track racing night ‘and the racing was exciting.’  ‘We just keep getting a lot of people coming back year after year,’” Briggs said.

Organized Labor and the United Way have been partners for more than 75 years and they both work for a common goal: To help the Niagara County Community.

“This is a Labor Program ‘that benefits those living in Niagara County’ and ‘it gives Organized Labor the opportunity to help those in need,’” Jakobi said.  “The Labor Movement ‘always goes above and beyond and that’s in addition to this event.’  Their Members ‘have always agreed to dedicate a portion of their weekly paychecks to help the United Way and give back to the communities where they live and work in.’”

A number of Union Members own and drive cars at the Ransomville track for the Labor’s Night at the Races event, including some from the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Ironworkers Local 9, Laborers Local 91 and the Steelworkers.

Briggs also made it a point to thank several major sponsors, including BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York, M&T Bank, the Lewis & Lewis Law Firm and the Maxwell and Murphy Law Firm - as well as support received from those who took out ads in the racing program and many elected officials who not only did the same, but were in attendance Friday night.

“It ‘makes you feel good,’” Briggs told WNYLaborToday.com, “with ‘so many people stepping up to the plate.’  ‘It’s those kind of people who want to make our community work.’”

Briggs also took time to thank Ransomville Raceway’s ownership, who he said have worked with the Niagara-Orleans Labor Council “to keep costs down that make it affordable so we can sell tickets to Union Members and their families.”  “We ‘appreciate that because it helps the Labor Council give back to the community too,’” he added.