(RANSOMVILLE, NEW YORK) – The 2018 Niagara-Orleans AFL-CIO Central Labor Council’s Annual Labor’s Night at the Races event set a new record in 2018 by raising $15,500, bringing the overall amount to benefit the United Way of Greater Niagara (UWGN) over a 10-year period to $115,500.

“It ‘feels good.’  ‘We’re thrilled to break another record,’” Niagara-Orleans AFL-CIO Labor Council President Jim Briggs, who also serves as United Steelworkers (USW) District 4 Sub-Director, told WNYLaborToday.com.  Briggs was referring to a then record of $15,000 raised during the 2017 Labor’s Night at the Races event.

“It’s ‘unbelievable’ that a ‘one-night event raises that kind of money.’  Even though we lost some advertisers in our racing program, the total amount ‘went up’ (from $15,000 in 2017).  We had (610) people who bought tickets so our ticket sales ‘keep getting better and better,’” he said.

“This event ‘says a lot about Labor and Labor’s commitment to an area where our Members live, work and raise their families,’” Briggs continued.  “And this effort ‘ties into’ what Labor ‘has constantly harped on’ in regards to Income Inequality.  People are ‘starting to realize it is a problem that needs to be fixed due to those being impacted on the bottom as more and more money is pushed to the top.’  It’s been ‘more of an issue because of what’s gone on in the (27th Congressional District with disgraced U.S. Congressman Chris Collins).’  There are some elected representatives who are ‘more concerned about themselves than those at the bottom.’”

The unique dirt track car racing event was held by the Niagara-Orleans Labor Council on Friday, June 8th at Ransomville Speedway in Niagara County.  The dollars raised goes to benefit 44 community programs that are funded by the United Way across the Western New York County. 

“A lot of ‘hard work’ goes into this event, ‘but we get it done.’  Bill Jakobi (the Niagara-Orleans Labor Council Liaison at the United Way of Greater Niagara) does about sixty-five-percent of the work ‘and it shows,’” said Briggs of Jakobi, who’s helped make Labor’s Night at the Races one of the crown jewels of Union fundraising across the Western New York Region.

Previous to 2018, the Niagara-Orleans Labor Council’s Labor’s Night at the Races’ fundraising total had been broken by about $1,000 in each of the last three years.  

The dollars raised by the event goes to help fund 44 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.

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.

“Every year I am ‘amazed to see its growth with more than six-hundred people coming to this event,’” Niagara-Orleans Labor Council/United Way Labor Liaison Jakobi told WNYLaborToday.com.  “To see ‘so many people coming, walking through those gates and enjoying themselves - that’s great.’”

“This is ‘not your typical’ fundraiser – ‘but it is an event that’s a big reflection on Organized Labor giving back to the community and helping out.’  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 those from the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Ironworkers Local 9, Laborers Local 91 and the Steelworkers.

United Way of Greater Niagara President and CEO Connie Brown told WNYLaborToday.com that when she assumed the leadership of the organization back in 2016, one of her goals was to strengthen the relationship between the United Way and Organized Labor.

“I ‘believe that today, we have a stronger partnership with Labor and we very much appreciate everything that they do.’  ‘Hey, we can’t do this alone and by working together we can support our partner agencies.’  ‘We have to have that support,’” Brown said.

Niagara-Orleans AFL-CIO Labor Council President Briggs and Jakobi also made it a point to single out those businesses and Friends of Labor who annually help support Labor’s Night at the Races, including its major sponsors: BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York; the Law Firm of Lewis & Lewis; the Law Firm of Maxwell and Murphy; M&T Bank; as well as a host of others, including the Revive Spine Center, Crown Benefits Group, Inc., and a bevy of Labor Unions, including - but not limited to, the USW and the Niagara County Building & Construction Trades Council.