WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: Photographs of the Buffalo and Niagara County Building and Construction Trades Council’s annual Hockey Tournament that benefited the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) of Upstate New York, which appear with this Labor News Report, are courtesy of Carpenters Local 276 via the Social Network Facebook.

(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – A total of $12,000 that was raised during a recently-held, three-day hockey tournament featuring the Member Unions of the Buffalo and Niagara County Building and Construction Trades Council has been donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) of Upstate New York.

“(The Building Trades) ‘really stepped up.’  The Building Trades’ ‘people are tried and true - they are really great, hard-working and dedicated people,’” Lori Cornell, who serves as JDRF Upstate New York Chapter Director of Development, told WNYLaborToday.com. 

“It was an ‘extremely special (event) and we are grateful and very fortunate to be the recipient’ (of what was raised).  As far as the event itself, ‘it was very well-run and the turnout was incredible.’  We ‘really, really appreciate this,’” Cornell (pictured below accepting the Building Trades donation) told Your On-Line Labor Newspaper.

The Trades’ donation will go to benefit research for a cure for Type 1 Diabetes, Cornell said.

One of the JDRF’s Board Members, who owns Union-represented Mader Construction, has a son who has diabetes, both Cornell and Building Trades President Paul Brown told WNYLaborToday.com.  And it was that connection that presented the opportunity for the Trades to designate JDRF Upstate New York as the recipient of this year’s fundraising total.

“It ‘went alright,’” Brown said.  “Because of the (Coronavirus) Pandemic, ‘it was the first one we had since (March 2020).’  ‘We couldn’t put one on in 2021 and we barely got the last one in before the pandemic hit.’”

In 2020, the Trades’ Hockey Tournament, which is held at the outdoor rinks at the Riverworks Entertainment Complex in Downtown Buffalo, raised $20,000 for the nearby Roswell Park Cancer Institute.  A year earlier, it raised $8,000 to benefit the Kaleida Health System.

This year, 10 teams from the Member Unions of the Building Trades took part in the tournament, playing three games before the overall winners competed in a playoff.

In the end, Ironworkers Local 6 won the A Division, while Laborers Local 210 won the B Division, Brown said.

The Buffalo and Niagara County Building & Construction Trades Councils are comprised of the following Member Unions: Boilermakers Local 7 of Orchard Park; Bricklayers Local 3 of Buffalo; Carpenters Local 276 of Cheektowaga; Cement Masons Local 111 of North Tonawanda; Electricians Local 41 of Orchard Park and Local 237 in Niagara Falls; Elevator Constructors Local 14 of Cheektowaga; Heat & Frost Insulators Local 4 of West Seneca; Ironworkers Local 6 of West Seneca and Local 9 in Niagara Falls; Laborers Local 210 of Cheektowaga and Local 91 of Niagara Falls; Millwrights Local 1163 of Western New York; Operating Engineers Local 17 of Hamburg and Local 463 of Ransomville; Painters District Council 4 of Cheektowaga; Plasterers Local 9 of North Tonawanda; U.A. Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 22 of Orchard Park; Roofers Local 74 of Cheektowaga; Sheet Metal Workers Local 71 of Buffalo; U.A. Road Sprinklerfitters Local 669 of Buffalo; and Teamsters Local 449 of Buffalo.