The National Thoroughbred Racing Association and Breeders' Cup announced Tuesday they had made disbursements totaling $429,809.81 from the NTRA Charities-New York Heroes Fund to Sept. 11-related charities, bringing the total amount disbursed to $4,879,809.81. The Heroes Fund is now closed. The latest disbursement benefits Scholarship America ($200,000), Tuesday's Children ($75,000), the World Trade Center Family Center ($75,000), the World Trade Center Healing Services of Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers ($50,000) and America's Camp--$29,809.81--previously a recipient of $350,000 from the Heroes Fund. The funds distributed represent the fulfillment of a $1 million pledge to the Heroes Fund by Thoroughbred owner Ernie Paragallo. The pledge was payable through the sale of multi-year stallion seasons to champion sprinter Artax and to Unbridled's Song, with whom Paragallo won the 1999 Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I) and the 1995 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) respectively.Paragallo, a native of Brooklyn, made the contribution to the Heroes Fund in memory of several friends and firefighters who perished in the attack on the World Trade Center.Laurence A. Levy accepted the contributions to Scholarship America and America's Camp, which were presented by Ernie Paragallo and Breeders' Cup president D.G. Van Clief Jr. during a Breeders' Cup media luncheon at Gallagher's Steakhouse in New York. Levy, chairman of America's Camp, oversaw the Twin Towers Fund, established by former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani in the aftermath of Sept. 11. Scholarship America and America's Camp continue the Twin Towers programs. Dr. Tom Demaria, director of the World Trade Center Family Center, Mark Ackermann, president of St. Vincent Catholic Medical Center, and Chris Burke, president of Tuesday's Children, were also in attendance. NTRA, the Breeders' Cup, and the New York Racing Association formed the Heroes Fund to benefit the children and dependents of those who lost their lives Sept. 11, and Belmont Park in their honor. More than 300 individuals and organizations from the horseracing community supported the Heroes Fund.
Organizations that have received contributions include the Sept. 11 Fund include:Pentagon Relief ($50,000); American Red Cross' Pentagon Relief Program ($50,000); the North Jersey Media Group Disaster Relief Fund ($50,000); Ronald McDonald House Charities ($50,000 for relief efforts at Ground Zero); World Trade Center Healing Services of Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers ($50,000); Tuesday's Children ($75,000), the World Trade Center Family Center ($75,000); the Bergen County (N.J.) United Way Community Response Fund ($100,000); the Port Authority Police World Trade Disaster Survivors' Fund ($100,000); the World Trade Center Port Authority Memorial Fund ($150,000); Salvation Army of Greater New York ($150,000); The New York Times 9/11 Neediest Fund ($150,000); the Disaster Relief Fund of Newsday/McCormick Tribune Foundation ($150,000); Scholarship America ($200,000); Diocese of Rockville Centre (N.Y.) Emergency Relief Fund; World Trade Center Disaster Fund ($300,000); the Garden City (N.Y.) Community Fund; Family Relief Fund ($300,000); America's Camp ($379,809.81); the New York State World Trade Center Relief Fund ($500,000); the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund ($500,000); the Twin Towers Fund ($500,000); and the Silver Shield Foundation ($1-million). Scholarship America is a scholarship consortium formed out of the Twin Towers Fund and has disbursed some $120-million to families affected by Sept. 11. Tuesday's Children is a community outreach organization that provides mentoring to approximately 2,000 young children who lost family members in the attacks. The World Trade Center Family Center is a Rockville Centre, N.Y.-based mental health outreach program for grieving families. The World Trade Center Healing Services of Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers provides psychological trauma services to the residents of lower Manhattan and Staten Island who were affected by the attacks, rescue and recovery workers at the WTC site, public safety workers, and family members of those who died in the attacks. America's Camp is a free, one-week summer camp for boys and girls who lost a parent or sibling in the attacks of Sept. 11 and for the children of police and firefighters lost in the line of duty.