The Rink at Shelton/Sports Center of Connecticut
The Rink at Shelton/Sports Center of Connecticut
Alan Phillips
784 River Rd.
Shelton, CT 06484
(203) 929-6500
alan@sportscenterct.com
For immediate release
Shelton, CT—Feb. 1st –The second annual Skate for the Cure, a gala event featuring an elite list of figure skaters, to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), will be held on April 1st at The Rinks at Shelton. The show will feature Olympic, International and up and coming Regional skaters.
For the second year Daniel Innamorati, 17, a senior at Staples High School in Westport and a competitive figure skater himself, will organize the fundraiser. Last year Innamorati raised over $27,000 with this event for JDRF and hopes surpass that amount this year. “With this being an Olympic year and figure skating at the forefront as everyone’s favorite winter competition, I hope to raise even more money as well as awareness of the terrible disease,” said Innamorati.
Helping him to achieve his goal this year is Ilana Phillips, 16, a junior at Staples High School. “I really enjoyed helping out last year,” said Phillips, “but this year I wanted to take on a greater role. JDRF does such important work and helps so many children that I wanted to help them make an even bigger difference in the lives of those children with the disease.”
Though neither Innamorati nor Phillips has a personal connection to juvenile diabetes, Innamorati grandparents are among the over 20 million in the U.S. who have been diagnosed with diabetes. He says it is extremely gratifying to combine his passion for skating with “the great cause” of juvenile diabetes research.
The emcee for the evening will once again be Frank Simms of New York, a singer who has appeared with Madonna, Elvis Costello, David Bowie and Billy Joel and is the voice behind many characters in movie, cartoons and commercials. Special musical guest, 5th grader Annie Nirschel, will return this year. Annie was diagnosed with type 1 (juvenile) diabetes prior to her fourth birthday. She has gone on to become one of Manhattan’s top children voice-over stars having done numerous commercials and is now working on a cd with a Grammy award winning producer.
Last year’s 600 guests were entertained by 3-time Italian National Champion and Olympian Silvia Fontana, Canadian National Pairs Bronze Medalists Elizabeth Putnam and Sean Wirtz, 2006 Olympian and World Junior Figure Skating Championship Bronze Medallist Emily Hughes and European champion and Olympic bronze medallist Jozef Sabovcik. Both Innamorati and Phillips have high hopes that these skaters and other renowned skaters will join the fundraiser this year.
Innamorati is a five-time National competitor himself and will perform in the show again this year.
Alan Philips of Westport and Howard Saffan of Weston, the principals in The Rinks at Shelton, are providing the arena without charge for the evening. Says Saffan: “Daniel and Ilana’s mission to promote so worthy a cause is enamoring and deserving of all our support.”
The Rinks at Shelton features two NHL-size ice surfaces stacked one on top of the other, the only such configuration known to exist anywhere in the world. The arena is part of the 15-acre Sports Center of Connecticut that also offers an all-weather golf driving range, batting cages, mini-golf, a health club and facilities for corporate meetings and banquets.
The latest information on Skate for the Cure ’06 is available online at www.skateforthecure.com and additional information on the activities at The Sports Center is online at www.sportscenterct.com.
JDRF, the leading charitable fund and advocate of type 1(juvenile) diabetes research worldwide, was founded by parents of children with juvenile diabetes, a disease that strikes children suddenly, making them insulin-dependent for life and carrying the constant threat of devastating complications.
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