Ride for Kids raises a one-day record $271,378
19 July 2000
Chicago - Another double-decker weekend for the Ride for Kids occurred on
Sunday July 16. With simultaneous events in Northbrook, Illinois and Utica,
New York, a new one-day record for total funds raised for childhood brain tumor
research was achieved - $271,378!
On an unusually temperate July day in Illinois, volunteer Task Force leaders
Vito Raccanelli and Bob Wagner led over 1,600 motorcyclists on a scenic ride
through Chicago's beautiful north shore communities celebrating the
record-breaking efforts of caring motorcyclists. Their gift to the Pediatric
Brain Tumor Foundation of the U.S. totaled $223,185. The riders met several
bright young brain tumor survivors under the huge circus tent erected on the
scenic corporate grounds of Allstate Indemnity Company. The Celebration of Life
was led off with a memorial to popular WGN radio host, Bob Collins, who attended
the Ride For Kids in northern Illinois for each of the eleven years of the
Ride's existence. Having lost his life recently in a private airplane crash,
Collins always led the event on his Gold Wing. The riders came to their feet
with a standing ovation when twelve year old brain tumor survivor Brian Cherry
announced that he had been cancer free for five years and, in honor of this
important occasion, had raised $1,615 in donations. Top Individual fund raising
honors went to Ted Nielsen, of Nielsen Enterprises, with $14,620. The Top
Chapter was GWRRA IL-G2, whose combined contributions reached $31,839. The Top
Motorcycle dealership laurels went to Banzai Motorsports with $35,165. The very
excited Phil Dustin of Wheeling, IL went home the proud owner of a new Honda
motorcycle, compliments of American Honda Motor Company.
Meanwhile in Utica, New York, 225 motorcyclists did their best impression
of Olympic swimmers as they splashed through the rain northward to their
destination of the scenic lakeside resort town of Old Forge. Inclement weather
or not, the valiant New Yorkers were not to be deterred from their quest to help
the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation of the US find the cause and cure of
childhood brain tumors. Volunteer Task Force leaders Brian and Diane Landers and
Paul and Bobbie Duffy were elated with the $48,193 that the damp, high-spirited
motorcyclists brought with them, nearly doubling the event's 1999 figures.
Notable among the fund raising efforts were Top Fund Raisers Brian and Diane
Landers with $5,119. The Top Chapter was GWRRA NY-T with $17,963 and the Top
Dealer was Chenango Import Motors, whose customers brought in $28,867. One of
the happiest riders that day was Thomas Van Etten of Lee Center, NY who won a
new Honda motorcycle thanks to American Honda Motor Company.
The next Ride for Kids event is Sunday, July 23 in St. Paul, Minnesota. For
more information on the Ride for Kids and the work of the Pediatric Brain Tumor
Foundation of the U.S., call 828-665-6891 or visit the web sites at
http://www.ride4kids.org or http://www.pbtfus.org