by Keith Gisser, project manager, Harness Horse Youth Foundation

Westfield, IN — Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen’s Association executive director Ron Battoni and former HHYF assistant Ryan Avenatti have been elected to three-year terms on the HHYF’s 15-member board of trustees.

Battoni, 61, of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., has worked closely with HHYF in the past in his role with the PHHA.

“I was honored to be asked to serve on the board,” he says. “The HHYF does so much good work reaching out to get our youth involved in racing. I hope I can bring something useful to the table, to help expand that.”

Avenatti is currently a teaching assistant in the Division of Life Science at Rutgers University and is also a Rutgers University School of Environmental and Biological Sciences Excellence Fellow. He has a varied biology background and has served on the staff of Rutgers’ Equine Science Center. The Doctoral candidate is 27 and resides in North Brunswick, N.J.

“I am proud to be serving HHYF in this new capacity,” Avenatti, an Illinois native, commented. “Education is not just facts and figures in a classroom, but is about helping young people to succeed. That is what I believe and it is what HHYF has proven with its efforts.”

The Harness Horse Youth Foundation is a charitable 501(c)3 organization dedicated to providing young people and their families educational opportunities with harness horses, in order to foster the next generation of participants and fans. The Foundation has been making a difference in young people’s lives since 1976, and its programs include interactive learning experiences with these versatile animals, scholarship programs, and creation and distribution of educational materials. For more information on opportunities through HHYF, or to support its mission, go to www.hhyf.org.