Ken Carter, Chaplain of the Standardbred Race Track Chaplaincy of Canada, has announced the appointment of Bill Galvin to his Chaplaincy’s board of directors.
Galvin began his career in harness racing as a groom on the backstretches of North American racetracks. He then toiled with the Ontario Jockey Club and the Canadian Trotting Association as a harness publicist and promoter of the sport during the golden era of night harness racing in the 1980s. He received his formal education at the University of Ottawa and Wayne State University in Detroit and is a recent inductee into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. Galvin is also a council member of the Racetrack Chaplaincy of Canada (Ontario) for Thoroughbred racing at Woodbine Racetrack and the Fort Erie Race Track.
Galvin joins a group of eight Chaplaincy directors for Chaplain Ken’s non-denominational, evangelical fellowship, non-profit charity dedicated to providing for the spiritual, emotional, physical and human needs of the horse racing work force in southwestern Ontario. Food and clothing, legal and financial referrals and pastoral counseling are some of the services provided by the Chaplaincy.
Chaplain Ken visits the sick and injured workers in hospital, officiates at weddings, funerals, baptisms and memorial services, organizes wholesome on-track events and makes referrals to AA meetings. All are part of his day-to-day duties.
Chaplain Carter is a career horseman. He became a blacksmith at an early age and has trained and driven harness horses. Previous to assuming his Chaplaincy post at Mohawk Racetrack nine years ago, he pastored a church in Grand Valley, Ont.
Since the closing of Mohawk Racetrack, Chaplain Ken’s travels take him to visit horsemen at harness racing training centres all over southwestern Ontario.
(Standardbred Race Track Chaplaincy of Canada)