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Rivers Casino Schenectady turned its guests’ spare chips into a $9,000 check.
The Capital Region casino announced the donation Thursday. The recipient is Caring Together, a local nonprofit that supports women affected by ovarian cancer.
The money came from the casino’s monthly Rivers Gives: Donations Make a Difference fundraiser. Guests hand over chips, uncashed vouchers, and cash, and the casino passes it along to a nonprofit in the area. As in, the stray chip that never made it back to the cage. The voucher that sat forgotten in a jacket pocket. All of it counts.
How the Rivers Casino Schenectady fundraiser works
Each month, the program sends its total to a different Capital Region cause.
Recent checks have landed in the same neighborhood. Rivers Casino Schenectady gave $8,457.10 to Leatherstocking Honor Flight in July and more than $8,500 to Unity House in May, according to the casino’s releases.
This month’s total tops both.
Anna Boyd, vice president of human resources at Rivers Casino Schenectady, thanked the casino’s customers.
“Caring Together provides an important network of support for women and families facing ovarian cancer while also working to increase awareness and advance research. We’re grateful to our guests for once again helping us support an organization doing meaningful work right here in the Capital Region through our Donations Make a Difference program.”
Who is Caring Together?
Caring Together provides support, education, and advocacy for women with ovarian cancer and their families. It also helps fund research aimed at finding an early detection test and a cure.
The group holds monthly support meetings at the HopeClub in Latham. According to its website, its goal is to donate a total of $2 million to research and awareness efforts.
The timing fits. September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. Caring Together had its 25th anniversary Teal Ribbon Run/Walk on Sept. 13.
Those chips at Rivers Casino Schenectady never made it back to the cage. They ended up somewhere better.
