Churchill to Award $127,000 to 3 Charities
Description:
Three charitable organizations will share in $127,000 in contributions to be awarded during Churchill Downs' "Downs After Dark" festivities June 14.
The funds for the donations were generated by activities during this year's celebration of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) and Longines Kentucky Oaks (gr. I). Checks will be presented by Dana Johnson, Churchill Downs Inc.'s senior director of corporate responsibility.
Bright Pink, the official women's health partner of the Kentucky Oaks, will receive a check for $57,000; Horses and Hope, Kentucky First Lady Jane Beshear's cancer outreach initiative in Kentucky's horse industry, will receive a check for $30,000; and Dare to Care, a Louisville food bank that has been serving the city's needy for more than 40 years, will receive a check for $40,000.
Bright Pink's chief of staff Carl Frazier will accept the check, which includes funds from a $50,000 donation from Churchill Downs and funds from donations made online and on-track during the Oaks Day celebration. The donation will be used by the organization for the education, support, and empowerment of young women nationwide in prevention of breast and ovarian cancer.
The donation to Horses and Hope represents $1 from each on-track sale of the "Oaks Lily," the signature drink of the Kentucky Oaks. The check will be presented to Connie Sorrell, director of the Kentucky Cancer Program at the University of Louisville, and Thoroughbred owner-breeder Anita Cauley, a member of the First Lady's "Pink Stable."
Dare to Care will receive its donation from proceeds from the fifth annual "Taste of Derby Presented by Stella Artois" celebration in the North Wing Lobby of Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center May 1. The celebration of racing cuisine, celebrity, and style attracted more than 1,500 patrons.
Johnson will present the check to Dare to Care chief development officer Jackie Keating and corporate relations manager Remy Kenney.
The presentation of donations will follow the third race on Saturday's 11-race night racing program, which begins at 6 p.m. EDT. Post time for the third race is set for approximately 6:56 p.m.