The Northport Rotary Club sponsors August 14 duck race, prompting community members to “give a duck for all the right reasons”

The largest annual fundraiser for the Northport Rotary Club is just around the corner, coming to Northport Village on August 14 and bringing with it lots and lots of... ducks. Not the real ones, but the little yellow duckies that will go head-to-head in the 2021 Northport Duck Race, which is being called “Give a Duck for all the Right Reasons.”

Made up of about 30 community members, the Northport Rotary focuses on the needs of local and broader international communities. The club meets once a week, faithfully, and emphasizes hands-on participation by all members, including engaging in Northport community and regional services. The list of programs and organizations that receive donations from the Rotary is vast and includes Cooking for Long Island Veterans, Soles4Souls Shoe Drive, K.I.D.S. Plus, Helping Hands Rescue Mission and St. Baldrick’s Cancer Research.

Another special program that’s funded with the money raised by the Rotary Club is Gift of Life International, which provides child heart surgery for disadvantaged foreign youth. Rotarians and other volunteers contribute to the cost of pediatric cardiac surgeries and aftercare programs, including providing regular exams, medicines and nutritional assistance. James LaMantia, owner of LaMantia Gallery on Main Street, is the head of Gift of Life Long Island and president of the Northport Rotary Club. He’s been called “an art dealer, but a heart saver” because of the work he does to save the lives of children with heart disease.

Mark Gross, an Eaton’s Neck resident who’s been a Northport Rotarian since 2019, is in charge of this year’s duck race. Despite the club’s Food and Wine event being cancelled last year because of Covid-19, the Rotary was still able to raise $19,000 with a socially distanced duck race in Asharoken, Mark said. “I saw two checks, each for $5,000, go to the Gift of Life for Long Island and the Gift of Life International,” he said. “I saw how it saved two children’s lives, how money from Northport went to Israel, to a doctor, and then to Jordan where these two kids were saved. It got me so pumped up about it.”

Mark and his fellow Rotarians decided to go for it again, but this time are hosting the race right in Northport Village. With the help of former Trustee Mercy Smith, they got approval to hold the race on the harbor, between the two parking lots where fishermen often dock their boats. The goal is to run three heats, each with 300 ducks. The tide will move the ducks and let nature take its course, and eventually, the first ducks, each sporting a number that’s paired with the ticket holder, will cross the finish line.

Purchasing a duck costs $50 and each duck has a chance to win in its heat: third place takes home a $500 prize; second place a $1,000 prize; and first place, $2,000. Mark and the team are hoping to sell 900 ducks (300 per heat in three heats), with the help of community members and sponsors. “I believe this can be one of the Rotary’s biggest events ever,” he said. “And the Village needs something like this. It’s exciting and I really want to make this big.”

For Mark, seeing funds raised by the Rotary Club at work has been impactful. He loves interacting with local groups and organizations, and witnessing the pure goodness that comes out of community when someone is in need of help. “I really got involved because I saw what we are doing at a local level around here, like the local food pantries and how we committed once a month to do the delivery of food for Veterans on Wheels. It’s great seeing where the money gets spread out,” he said.

You’ll notice Mark and his inflatable duck at the Farmer’s Market on Saturdays, where you can purchase a ticket for a duck and speak to the volunteers. You can also buy a ticket online and watch the race via Facebook Live if you can’t be there in person.

At the end of the day, Mark and his fellow Rotarians just want to make a difference. The group, which is made up of local business owners, teachers and retired community members, have one priority, and that’s contributing to programs that will make Northport – and the world – a better place.

The Northport Rotary supports the following programs:

Northport Veterans Administration
American Legion, Boys and Girls State
Cooking for Long Island Veterans
Visiting Nurse Service and Hospice of Suffolk
Haiti: Water/Desalination Projects/Medical-Dental Mission/Sign Language Project
Gift of Life
Northport Ecumenical Food Pantry
Soles4Souls Shoe Drive
Northport Rotary Holiday Helpers
Northport High School College Scholarships
Northport Community Band
Northport/East Northport Drug and Alcohol Task Force
Juvenile Diabetes Foundation
Happenings on Main Street
Camp Pa Qua Tuck, Children with Disabilities
Elijah School - Autism
K.I.D.S. Plus
Erica Josephson Foundation
Northport Fire Department
Gunther’s Victims Fund
Boomer Esiason Foundation - Cystic Fibrosis
St. Baldrick’s Cancer Research
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
Simple Hope Foundation
Rotary Youth Exchange, RYLA and High School Interact Clubs
Jamaica Community, Delivery of Christmas Gifts
Huntington Human Services, Camp for Disadvantaged
Teach America in Peru
Roswell Park Cancer Research
Suffolk County Volunteer Firefighters’ Burn Center
Midnight Run (NYC Homeless)
Helping Hands Rescue Mission
Housing Help
Lindi’s Libraries
Adopt-a-Family
St. Vincent dePaul