Banners benefit seriously ill children LONG BRANCH - The Long Branch Chamber of Commerce has sponsored a total of 42 officially sanctioned Breeders' Cup banners and has been awarded 10 tickets to the Breeders' Cup race to be held Friday and Saturday at Monmouth Park racetrack. The tickets will be donated through the chamber to the Valerie Center at The Children's Hospital at Monmouth Medical Center and the Ronald McDonald House in Long Branch. The Breeders' Cup colorful street banners, each bearing the sponsor's name and hometown, have been unfurled along Ocean Boulevard, throughout Pier Village and at Ocean Place Resort & Spa. In addition to the Greater Long Branch Chamber of Commerce, individual sponsors include: Monmouth Medical Center, Avenue, Le Club@Avenue, Pier Village, the Broadway Center, RSI Bank, Atlantic Eye Physicians, Central Jersey Bank and the City of Long Branch. The Breeders' Cup Banner Program, which was offered to businesses and organizations in Monmouth County, was spearheaded by the Breeders' Cup Host Committee. The $23 million racing event is expected to draw some 40,000 spectators to Monmouth Park in Oceanport, which is hosting the 24th running of the event for the first time. Capping a monthlong celebration in Monmouth County of the Breeders' Cup, the Greater Long Branch Chamber of Commerce will also sponsor the FanFest Fireworks Finale Saturday in cooperation with the Ocean Place and McLoone's Pier House. The display will be presented at dusk on the beach at Pier Village. The Valerie Center, which is part of The Children's Hospital at Monmouth Medical Center, provides comprehensive medical services to children, adolescents and young adults, from birth to age 21, with leukemia and other cancers, and blood disorders. Monmouth is among seven hospitals in the tristate area of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania that is part of The Valerie Fund Children's Centers for Cancer and Blood Disorders, one of the nation's largest and most advanced pediatric oncology/hematology networks, providing care to more than 5,000 children with cancer and blood disorders each year. The Ronald McDonald House, located on Bath Avenue, provides families of seriously ill children undergoing treatment at area hospitals with a comfortable and supportive place to stay. While the house is among 245 such facilities in 28 countries that is part of the internationally recognized Ronald McDonald House Charities, it is operated autonomously through the support of its local community.