Making Strides with Local 100

OCTOBER 27—It gave new meaning to mall walking.

Early on Sunday morning, hundreds of TWU Local 100 members dressed in pink gathered at Bay Plaza in the Bronx to take part in a walk through the sprawling shopping complex for the annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event.

Local 100 President John V. Chiarello helped to kick off the event from the stage, explaining why the union was a regular sponsor of the event.

“Everyone knows someone who has had cancer,” he said, adding that President Emeritus Tony Utano had lost his mother to the disease. “Today, Local 100 walks for Gina,” said Chiarello.

A hot breakfast was served to union attendees by volunteers from Local 100 ahead of the walk, which stretched from Bay Plaza Blvd. and wound around the shopping center to end on Co-Op City Blvd.

As walkers streamed through one section of the mall, Bronx-based mural collective Tats Cru painted an 8x8 foot Local 100-themed piece to be donated to the union hall, causing plenty of people to pause and take in the stenciling and spray-painting.

A life-sized heart-shaped frame was another attraction, and will return, like Local 100, next year.

To see photos from the event, click below:

Making Strides of the Bronx 2025