National Adopt A Pet Day Has All Paws On Deck At Empire City

YONKERS, NY — Empire City Casino partnered with Volunteer New York and Paws Crossed Animal Rescue, based in Elmsford, to host an employee volunteer event in support of National Adopt a Pet Day April 30. Accompanied by shelter puppies Hocus and Alakazam, more than 50 employees participated by making more than 100 pull toys.

Hocus and Alakazam are 10-week-old Labrador Retriever mixes and part of the shelter’s ‘Magic Dogs’: Hocus, Pocus, Abra, Cadabra, Alakazam, Presto, Shazam and mom, Houdini.

Project Rescue Dog Pull Toy took place at Empire City Casino. Employees turned clean, recycled T-shirts into pull toys to be used for play, training and social interaction, giving rescue dogs a better chance of finding a forever home, according to a spokeswoman.

In addition to the successful employee volunteer event, Paws Crossed volunteer and Empire City Casino employee Eileen Rooney surprised Paws Crossed with a $1,000 donation, on behalf of Timothy J. Rooney, the casino’s president and CEO. The donation will go directly to the animal rescue organization to be used for additional rescue resources.

“Volunteer New York! is proud to support Empire City Casino and their employees in helping to connect them closer to their community in meaningful ways where they can give back,” said Volunteer New York! Executive Director Alisa H. Kesten. “As strong community partners that care, we’ll bet on them every single time.”

Jennifer Angelucci, president and CEO of Paws Crossed was thankful that Empire City Casino included her organization in the event.

“We look forward to partnering again on future outings with this wonderful group of people to share our mission to ‘Rescue One By One Until There Are None!’ ” she said.

Empire City Casino and its employees are committed to giving back to the community through various events, sponsorships and fundraisers throughout the year including hosting the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge every August, the JDRF Walk each October, and the Coat & Toy Drive in November, according to a spokeswoman.

For more information on Empire City Casino, go here.

Photo credit: Courtesy Empire City Casino

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