John's Raises $7,500 for St. Judes

STAMFORD –  The rain persisted on July 18 and  affected the number of bike riders for the annual John's Tavern Memorial Motorcycle Run for St. Judes. However, they still raised $7,500 for a very worthy cause.

The annual benefit is sponsored by John's Tavern in Stamford was started to help a friend, Vicki Allegretto, in her battle against cancer. It has continued in order to raise money for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. Santos Punturiero, owner of Johns Tavern, believes Allegretto would be very proud of the fact the event in her memory raises so much money for such a good cause.

Although it did not  raise as much as in more recent years. The weather held the rider numbers to just 12 motorcycles, many not wishing to take the chance of riding in heavy rain.

Punturiero said he is still pleased with the amount raised  and deposited the money in the bank to present to St. Jues.

"Again, I have a long list of people to thank for making this a successful event,"  he said.

Jake More and George Keyser mapped out this year's run and organized the food. Keyser also ordered the t-shirts. Mary Jane, one of the bartenders at Johns, began the fundraising by selling cutout pumpkins, stars, shamrocks, hearts and other things to patrons to raise money. Carrie Ann Calcauto also took in a lot of donations and ran the 50/50 raffle during the run. Jo Jo Taylor also collected donations and helped with the auction. Shelly Palmer worked all morning on the day of the run to set up the auction items inside Johns and Samantha Clark helped with the auction and keeping track of bidders. Luis Ortiz, also known as Speedy, again served as the auctioneer for the event. Doris Pasternack sold  many of the raffle tickets for the chainsaw at the Prattsville Tavern. Jessica Fredenburgh and Jake More also set up the food and the food tables, while Emily Apicelli put her talent to good use by creating a very artistic poster for the window at John's and Brian, cook at the Hidden Inn, chipped in his cooking talents to help prepare the food.

While the turnout was disappointing  Punturiero said you can't stop mother nature, with other activities also affected by the weather on July 18.