Football Tailgate Party Raising Nearly $4K for Local Charities (Photos)

The annual NFL Conference Championship Tailgate Party benefitting charity was held on Sunday at the Waterfront Grille in Herkimer. Organizers Marc Butler and Rocky Fiato teamed up with WIBX's Keeler Show to raise funds for three local charities.

"Every year it gets bigger and bigger," said Marc Butler, who isn a former NYS Assemblyman and now serves as Mayor in the Village of Newport. "We selected three very important charities and Rocky and the Waterfront donated back every penny that came in," he said.

Money raised will benefit three local Herkimer County non-profits.

The Herkimer Country Humane Society, The Herkimer County Hunger Coalition, and Herkimer County's volunteer ambulance service, MOVAC.

Waterfront Grille owner Rocky Fiato and his wife Barb donated all of the food, and the first drink for everyone who attended. Several sports related door prizes were also raffled off. All proceeds went to the charities.

Herkimer County Humane Society

The Herkimer County Humane Society is a non-profit, 501c3 charitable organization dedicated to providing shelter and safe haven for stray dogs and cats, until their forever homes are found.

Their vision: Employ skilled, caring, compassionate shelter workers who work with local veterinarians for medical decisions for animals at the shelter or in foster care in support of being a low-kill shelter and provide daily feeding, cleaning, safety, care, attention, and love to all the animals at the shelter from the day they are rescued to they are adopted.

Herkimer County Hunger Coalition

The Herkimer County Hunger Coalition was created initially to work with Herkimer County food pantries in helping guarantee that they provide ample, nutritious meals for those residents at hunger risk. Since 1999, we've raised over $250,000 and initiated a public relations campaign designed to inform the public about what pantries do, where they're located and why they need its support with the result that the latter's distribution of meals has increased from c.56,000 in 1999 to, since 2009, an average of 450,000 per year.  During the same period, Coalition funds helped in the development of pantries in Newport (Kuyahoora) and Van Hornesville, thus insuring that the entirety of Herkimer County was covered regarding meeting the needs of people living at hunger risk.  For the last few years, the Coalition has paid for snacks provided children in the After School Reading Program and for diapers requested by some pantries. Aiding our eight county pantries will always remain our primary objective.

MOVAC

Established in 1979, the Mohawk Valley Ambulance Corps Inc., known throughout the community as "MOVAC", has grown to provide primary ambulance services to communities in both Herkimer and Fulton Counties. MOVAC has transitioned from our original status as a solely volunteer medical staff, to a 24/7/365 career staff service.  MOVAC currently employs both full and part time professional EMS providers, while also paying homage to our past through a volunteer executive board of directors. Our board members are local community leaders representing the various municipalities we serve.

Photos

Photos were taken by Brian at Lazore Photography. Download additional photos from the event for free.