BRISTOL \u2014 St. Joseph\u2019s Polish Society\u2019s inaugural \u201cT2T Poker Run\u201d raised more than $5,000 for the Tunnels to Towers Foundation.<\/p>\n
Richard Parent, permittee with St. Joseph\u2019s Polish Society, said the motorcycle poker run at the St. Joseph\u2019s Polish Society brought in $5,555 in donations. More than 40 area businesses donated raffle prizes. These prizes included $400 worth of BT pellets, lift tickets to Mount Southington and gift cards to area restaurants.<\/p>\n
According to Parent, there were about 45 riders and about 40 passengers this year. He said there was a \u201cvery good\u201d fundraising effort.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe pulled it off on a very short timeline,\u201d he said. \u201cIt takes a lot to put an event together like this. We\u2019re very thankful to the businesses that donated. I am happy for the support that we received. We are at the 25-year anniversary of 9\/11 and it\u2019s great to see that people have not forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parent said Alvin Deschaine, club president, \u201cled by example\u201d and was the platinum donor.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe brought a lot of people in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Additionally, Parent especially thanked the Burlington Men\u2019s Club for their support. He said bartenders worked throughout the day and donated their tips to the fundraiser. He said they work year-round to benefit the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t thank them enough,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The run started and ended at Saint Joseph\u2019s Polish Society at 88 E. Main St. in Bristol. Motorcyclists made stops along the run that included VFW Post 269 at 114 Colebrook River Road in Winsted, VFW Post 511 at\u00a041 Veterans Dr. in New Britain, the Burlington Men\u2019s Club at 44 Corey Road in Burlington and Mulligan\u2019s Grill & Tavern at\u00a037 Greenwoods Road\u00a0in New Hartford.<\/p>\n
Food was served during the day at St. Joseph\u2019s Polish Society and there was also a horseshoe tournament and live music by \u201cThe Evolution Project,\u201d a classic rock band.<\/p>\n
Proceeds supported the Tunnels To Towers Foundation\u2019s Mission. Tunnels to Towers is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to honoring the sacrifice of firefighter Stephen Siller, who died in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. After the World Trade Center was hit he ran from Brooklyn through the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel with 60 pounds of gear to assist at the Twin Towers. The Tunnels to Towers Foundation honors his memory by supporting first responders, military service members and their families.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Murphy, associate vice president of the Tunnels to Towers Foundation, said funds raised from this event will help advance programs that provide mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families. They will also help to build \u201cspecially adapted smart homes\u201d for \u201ccatastrophically injured\u201d veterans and first responders and support work to eliminate veteran homelessness.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are grateful to the efforts of St. Joseph Polish Society and their partners in organizing this event and for the generosity of donors contributing auction items and other support,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cContributions made in connection with this fundraiser play a meaningful role in helping the Foundation to continue its important work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parent said St. Joseph\u2019s Polish Society previously held a fundraiser called Mel\u2019s Run for 18 years, with the last event being in 2022. That event, named after late club member Melvin Chesky, raised almost $200,000 over the years to support the diabetic ward at Connecticut Children\u2019s Medical Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe raised $2,500 in our first year and $23,000 in the last year, 2022,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
With the fundraising goal for their previous fundraiser met, Parent said the club voted to choose another cause to support. He said Tunnels to Towers is dear to many people in the Bristol community.<\/p>\n
\u201cTunnels to Towers helped to take care of the mortgages of the families of the two fallen police officers and to pay for their children\u2019s college tuition,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Parent referred to Dustin DeMonte and Alex Hamzy, who were killed in the line of duty in an ambush shooting on October 12, 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRISTOL \u2014 St. Joseph\u2019s Polish Society\u2019s inaugural \u201cT2T Poker Run\u201d raised more than $5,000 for the Tunnels to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[115043,115039,129126,70463,6352,115037,115038,115033,115051,129125,115040,115042,129124,115046,115048,33413,9,24,63,129128,115034,115035,134,136,135,89982,115041,115049,129127,115044,115045,115047,7037],"class_list":["post-344419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-88-east-main-street","tag-alex-hamzy","tag-alvin-deschaine","tag-bristol","tag-burlington","tag-burlington-mens-club","tag-connecticut-childrens-medical-center","tag-dustin-demonte","tag-elizabeth-murphy","tag-hugh-l-carey-tunnel","tag-melvin-chesky","tag-motorcycle-poker-run","tag-mount-southington","tag-mulligans-grill-tavern","tag-new-britain","tag-new-hartford","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-permittee","tag-richard-parent","tag-st-josephs-polish-society","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news","tag-stephen-siller","tag-t2t-poker-run","tag-the-evolution-project","tag-tunnels-to-towers-foundation","tag-vfw-post-269","tag-vfw-post-511","tag-winsted","tag-world-trade-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}