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Photos by Susan Blackburn Photography

Backstretch Employee Service Team of New York, or B.E.S.T., celebrates its 30th anniversary this year as it seeks to provide superlative care and resources for the valued workers that make the horse industry tick.

Paul Ruchames, a licensed clinical social worker in his ninth year as executive director of B.E.S.T., knows the value of what its services provide. He distinctly recalls one man, a hot walker, who was, by all accounts, “near death.”

“Many people overcame drug and alcohol abuse,” Ruchames said, “or are overcoming it. We had one man, in his 60s, who was discovered. He had been an alcoholic for a long time. He was laid out, unconscious. It was the middle of winter. We took him to the hospital and got him into
our program.”

At the time, this man had about three months to live. 

“It was through the program,” Ruchames said, “not only the services we were able to give him, but the hope the we gave him. We cared and wouldn’t let him fall through the cracks. He had no clout in the world. He’s maintained his sobriety and is doing well. His goal is to get back to Mexico where he’s from with the money he can save.”

There are countless stories of this nature. For the backstretch workers, life is isolated and often lonely. Self-medicating is often the only release and escape for many of these men and women.

“Most workers are living apart from their families and country of origin,” Ruchames said. “It’s a selfless life, working so they can send money back home. It’s lonely for a lot of people. Alcohol and drugs call out to you when you feel that way, to anesthetize feelings. [The workers] tend not to mix outside the gates of the tracks. There’s little sense of identity, sort of a like a man with no country, not a part of America, just the racetrack is their culture.”

And it is the racetrack culture that has given its full endorsement and support for the backstretch workers. That state-wide partnership with the New York Thoroughbred Horseman’s Association and the New York Racing Association and its tracks—Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga Race Course—have allowed the program to prosper, in fact NYRA and NYTHA are B.E.S.T.’s largest donors.

Much of the other money B.E.S.T. raises comes from individual donors, and one way to support B.E.S.T. is the Third Race Call at Saratoga. For a donation of $100 per person, people can join Larry Collmus, the voice of the Triple Crown and NYRA, and watch him call the third race every day of the meet (excluding opening day and Travers Day). 

“I thought it was a great idea,” Collmus said. “Obviously B.E.S.T. is an organization that does wonders for people on the backstretch. [The backstretch workers] put on the show. Anything we can do to help is a great thing. I had, of course, known about this before I ever started working for NYRA. It was an obvious yes. It’s been a lot of fun. I get a chance to meet people I would not necessarily meet before. They visit me in the booth, at the same time for a fantastic cause. It’s a cool little thing that hopefully will continue to grow.”

These days Collmus uses an iPad to scribble in the silks of the horses so he can remember who’s who out on the track. An Apple Pencil is all he needs to color code a given race. Letting people see his process illustrates the immense work that goes into preparing for a single race.

“Most people want to know how I remember all the horses in the race,” Collmus said. “I show them what goes into the process and my own way of doing it. I like to show off the fact that I call a race off an iPad, draw digitally the silks of horses to get that preparation in, learn those races when they come on the track in advance. They enjoy seeing that.

“As I explain to them, the remembering is one thing, the other thing is the forgetting. There are 10 races a day. You don’t want to call horses that already ran, dump that memory bank. That group is done, clean the slate.”

Thirty years is a long time, but with recently added programs such as English as a Second Language, citizenship school, and myriad other classes, B.E.S.T. promises to keep striding well into the future.

“I see us getting more into prevention as well as treatment,” Ruchames said. “They’re exposed to chronic pain, those repetitive movements, day after day year after year. On the drug-and-alcohol-treatment side, there are medically assisted treatments—MATs—that help deal with craving and block the ability to get high from opiates and alcohol. They’re expensive and hard to access, but we’re working on integrating it.”

To donate to B.E.S.T. visit backstretch.org. 

Published in Winner's Circle
Thursday, 26 October 2017 12:46

Sustainable Saratoga Recycling Day

[Photos by Camera Famosa Photography.]

On Saturday, Oct. 21, retired teachers Art and Julie Holmberg, with a committee of 6-8 people and the help of the environmental class at Saratoga High School taught by Jody Visconti, and the Honor Society, among many others, came together to create Saratoga Recycles Day.

From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., roughly 500 cars came through and donated everything from electronics, metals, bicycles, small appliances, and textiles such as hats, towels, clothes, and rags, in any condition. Some textiles were recycled and some were redistributed. They shared the proceeds with the Saratoga High School clubs.

Mayor Joanne Yepsen proclaimed it Recycling Day.

Upstitch, a company in Albany, collected crochet needles, yarn, fabrics, sewing notions and sewing baskets to help educate people in impoverished areas and help them learn those skills.

Starting late last winter, the committee began to volunteer their time and organize the event, which included the vendors JGL Recycling in Colonie, American Clothing Company in Glens Falls, Bike Toga in Saratoga and Upstitch.

“It began with reading an article about Bethlehem. Dan Rein was named recycler of the year and so I looked on the website and saw what they did and how much they gathered. We patterned this after the Bethlehem program that has been recycling and having a recycling day for the past four to five years,” Art Holmberg explained.

“This was a very cooperative effort with Saratoga Springs Central School District. It started off with just environmental classes lending a hand and turned into the Honor Society helping. The students primarily helped with textiles and unloading cars,” Holmberg said.

Skidmore College students developed a pamphlet that talked about all of the places you can bring your recycling products in the local area, listing what they accept, addresses, etc.

“In general I go to Weibel Avenue transfer station and see what people throw down into the landfill and I just shudder when I see what’s been thrown in there that could be recycled and reused,” Holmberg said.

“There’s so much in recycling and reusing that we need to do more of as Americans and particularly in Saratoga,” Julie Holmberg added.

One hundred backpacks were collected for Shelters of Saratoga; 11,500 pounds of clothes were collected, and 89 bicycles were collected with Levi Rogers arranging the bike station and doing some repairs on site.

Bike Toga took 25 bikes to repair and then redistribute to the people of the community at a very low cost, and seven people exchanged bikes on the spot.

The Backstretch Employee Service Team (B.E.S.T.) took 12 bikes to keep on hand for next season. They collected a great deal of textiles as well.

Statistically speaking, Americans generate about 84 pounds of clothing every year and 70 percent of that material goes into a landfill, taking years to break down.

The committee members have already planned the event for next year, to take place on Oct. 20, 2018.

“We were so encouraged by the community’s response, we were very thrilled,” Julie Holmberg said.

“Start packing things up for next year. Eventually, with enough help and support, we could do this twice a year. It was a shot in the dark, but we succeeded,” added her husband.

Published in Education

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