Racker Day in the Park Coming Up Saturday August 29th at Stewart Park in Ithaca

John Harrison: Good morning everybody, welcome back to X101 Always Classic. John Harrison in the Cayuga Health, as part of Centralus Health System sponsored studios. Joining me today is Bob Brazill, the Director of Community Relations and Development at Racker. Bob, thanks for joining me.

Bob Brazill: Thanks for having me, Harrison. Appreciate it.

John Harrison: Yeah, of course. Happy to have you in the studio. We’re talking about a really cool event that’s coming up that’s practically in my backyard. I’m right over near Stewart Park, so this is going to be a really exciting day for not just me, but the community. And that’s Racker’s Day in the Park.

Bob Brazill: Yeah, if you’re close to Stewart Park, you know how accessible it is. That’s a major factor in holding this event at Stewart Park—the accessibility and the wonderful work the Friends of Stewart Park have done to make it a park for everybody. How this came about is we have done our Racker Rivals Big Red game with Cornell Hockey for the last 12 years. So this year, we’re going to take a year off and party. Our tagline for this is “Even years we party, odd years we play.” Next year, Racker Rivals Big Red will be back on the ice, but this year we’re at Stewart Park with free ice cream, crafts, activities, Flame the Band will be playing, which is a band out of Kingston, NY that is full of a lot of fun, cover band with people from the ARC of Livingston which is people with disabilities performing great music having a lot of fun, there will be food trucks there, the Cornell men’s hockey team, the Cornell women’s hockey team, will be there,  We’re just looking to have a good time and bring the community out. We’ve got a great bunch of sponsors that have made this free for everybody. The ice cream is free, the food trucks will have a discount to them, and the carousel is free as well that day.  So we’re excited and hoping for great weather. 

John Harrison: Yeah, that’s going to be perfect as long as the weather holds up. Even if it’s a little overcast, Stewart Park is always beautiful, and I’m sure the event’s going to go great. Where did the decision to take this year off—to take the year to party—come after 12 years of the Big Red game going on every year for Racker? It’s always such a huge event. How did this decision come about?

Bob Brazill: It’s honestly been a conversation. I started with the organization eight years ago, and I was asked when I started by Coach Schafer, the men’s hockey coach for Cornell, “Why don’t we think about doing this every other year?” I said, “Well, this makes a lot of money, Mike. I would like to keep it every year.” 12 years ago they started the game, the guys who started were 12 years older than they were. So we’re looking to get some new NHL guys on the ice, keep the same ones that were playing as well, and bring back some energy to it. Having an event down at Stewart Park is accessible for a whole different part of our Racker community. Some people love hockey—I’m one of them—but some people might find interests elsewhere. Stewart Park can hold those interests: have the crafts and have accessibility for everybody. Lynah Rink is great with accessibility, but this is another option as well, and it’s just bringing in more friends.

John Harrison: Yeah, that’ll be perfect. Lets talk a little bit about the money—the Racker community, and what this fundraiser is really for. I really want to hear about who’s benefiting from it and other than the community, who is going to have a great day at Stewart Park at the end of August.

Bob Brazill: Racker Rivals Big Red for years has benefited our early childhood programs. Those programs include preschools for kids of all abilities and we also do clinical services which are occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy. In the past 20 years, we get reimbursed by the state to do these things, have these preschools and therapies. However, state reimbursement hasn’t changed in 20 years, so its almost like a cut. Every single kid we see for early intervention, we’re losing anywhere from $100 to $150 every time we see somebody. The program itself doesn’t make money, which is where the opportunity comes along to have fundraisers like this to supplement that, make sure we continue offering these very important programs for the community. During 2020 to 2022, during the COVID, post COVID years, a lot  of organizations like Racker weren’t able to continue these programs because they didn’t have the financial sustainability to be able to keep going with a program that runs a deficit. Because of our size and fiscal management, we were able to keep them, but it comes at a cost. Fundraisers and community support keep these programs going for the kids in our community. That’s what Day in the Park will support.

John Harrison: Awesome. Over the years, raising over $1.4 million. Day in the Park is going to be a great way to get more people involved, like you said. It’s not a hockey game, so it opens it up for people who maybe just want a nice family day without worrying about getting up to Lynah Rink. Bob, is there anything else about the day that people should have on their radar? It’s going to be Saturday, August 29th, 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM at Stewart Park over in Ithaca. Anything else you want people to know?

Bob Brazill: It’s really just about fun. Our mission is about belonging—it’s a place where everyone belongs, and that’s what this event is about. Come, have a good time. You can not spend any money to have a great day in the park with free ice cream, live music, and carousel rides. It’s just about being fun, theres nothing else to it other than belonging and having fun at the park. We’re not made of sugar; if it rains a little bit, we’ll be fine! I will miss the coldness of Lynah Rink in the summer—coming from outside to inside to a nice 60-some-odd degrees—but this will be great.

John Harrison: It always feels nice to get into a hockey rink in the summer, but this will be a great capstone to summer for families—that last big celebration right before going back to school.

Bob Brazill: Yeah, and it’s nice that all the colleges in our community will be back in school at that time. We welcome students to join us to learn more about Racker—not only what we do in the disability and mental health community, but also some employment opportunities when they follow through with their schooling. Its a place where you can really make a difference, and thats important to us. I would be remiss if I didn’t thank our sponsors that have supported this, we have our major sponsors, we have Tompkins Bank, we have Consigliere and Brokers, Financial Designs with Kevin Shreve, Harris Beach Murtha, and Bowers Financial Services. All of them came through like they did with Racker Rivals Big Red. They’re follow up sponsors from the hockey game that came back to support Day in the Park and thats important to us.

John Harrison: That is really important, that shows real commitment to Racker and the community. They’re not just in it for the Big Red game; they’re willing to stay with this new event, which is going to be a lot of fun and I thinks its going to be a huge hit in the community.

Bob Brazill: We’re excited for it! We have a great community and love to support it.

John Harrison: Thanks so much for coming in, Bob. Before you go, where can people go to find more information, websites, or contacts?

Bob Brazill: You can find information at www.racker.org. The events page lists not just this event but all of our events we do, we do Tioga County Pinewood Derby, we do October staff celebration, and we got a lot of plans with Cortaca game thats now including Cornell University where SUNY Cortland, Ithaca College, and Cornell University hold a baseball game thats a fundraiser for us. We have a lot of fun events that benefit our community.

John Harrison: Bob, thanks so much for coming in today.

Bob Brazill: Thank you, Harrison. Appreciate it.

John Harrison: Of course! For everyone listening at home, this has been John Harrison on X101.