UFCW 655 to join effort to raise $50,000
By ED FINKELSTEIN
Publisher
How do you go about feeding 6,000 people in a matter of a few hours?
That’s the challenge facing UFCW Meat Deli & Seafood Local 88 who for the second year has volunteered to cook some 6,000 hot dogs and brats and dish up snow cones to be distributed free to walkers in the upcoming “Light the Night” fund raising program of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) St. Louis Chapter.
“It’s a program Local 88 has been proud to support for going on three years,” said Local 88 President Dan Telle. “Cooking that many brats and dogs in about three hours is a real challenge, but we do it with a smile… and a lot of hard work.
“This year we will have corporate tent where all our walkers, family and friends can sit and share stories while enjoying a refreshment before and after the walk,” he added.
Last year Local 88, with 14 teams and donations at the food table, raised almost $17,000 in addition to doing the cooking. Their first year, Local 88 cooked and provided the meats. This year, they will again provide all the meats as a donation to the effort in addition to entering walking teams. Kenricks Meats & Catering is providing Local 88 with their BBQ pits and delivering all the meat, buns and condiments..
This year, at the invitation of Local 88, UFCW Local 655 will join in the effort by volunteering and forming teams to participate in the walk. Nationally, the United Food & Commercial Workers locals around the nation and Canada have raised over $77 million for LLS, the union’s official charity. Local 655 conducts an annual golf tournament to also raise LLS funds.
The unions’ joint goal for this year’s Walk: $50,000. Anyone interested in forming a team, joining a team or donating can go to lightthenight.org/gat.
JOIN THE FUN SEPT. 24
This year’s walk, to be held in Forest Park’s Central Fields on Sept. 24, is expected to draw 12,000 to 15,000 participants who will be raising money that goes to finding a cure for blood cancers, the end goal of LLS.
Registration begins at 5:30 p.m., the walk at 7:30 p.m. Walkers will carry one of three different lights: white for survivors, red for supporters/friends, yellow in remembrance of a lost family member or friend. Children, adults, and seniors all take part. The walkers all enjoy a leisurely pace, as there are no fitness requirements to participate. Usually, it is completed in under an hour.
$$ STAYS IN ST. LOUIS
All the money raised will stay in St. Louis. Annually, the St. Louis Chapter provides over $1 million to support LLS-impacted families in addition to providing grants for research, said Debbie Kersting, executive director of the LLS Gateway chapter.
“We are excited to have the unions help again this year,” said Kersting. “Whenever an organization needs help, we know the unions will be there to do whatever it takes to make the event successful. We are so happy to have their involvement. The unions are an important part of our community.”
Walks will be held in over 200 communities across America.
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Light The Night Walk funds treatments that are saving the lives of patients today. LLS is making cures happen by providing patient support services, advocating for lifesaving treatments for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s lymphoma and myeloma, as well as to improve the quality of life of patients and their families.
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Golfers: Memorial golf tourney Sept. 12 to raise LLS research $$
Participating annually in the United Food & Commercial Workers national fund raising effort for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), UFCW Local 655 will hold its annual Joe Pretti Memorial Golf Tournament on Sept. 12 at the Teamsters Union Hills Golf Course in Pevely, Mo.
Joe Pretti was a veteran and much loved Local 655 union representative who died some 23 years ago from leukemia.
Local 655’s tournament over the past two decades has raised well over a half million dollars for LLS.
Everyone is invited to participate. Call Local 655 Union Representative Nick Trupiano at 636-736-2767 for details and registration.
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