It was a spectacular Sunday morning in Richmond, Va., as 350 motorcyclists and supporters raised a whopping $122,320 at the sixth annual Richmond Ride for Kids®. The event, which benefited the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation (PBTF), smashed its previous fundraising record by 30 percent.
First Lady of the Commonwealth of Virginia Anne Holton was at the start point in Glen Allen for Ride for Kids® Day in Virginia. She sent the police-escorted ride on a countryside tour that finished at the Richmond Times Dispatch facility in Mechanicsville.
There the crowd honored four local brain tumor survivors as the stars of the day during the Celebration of Life program. Nicholas, 7, Denise, 14, Kevin, 16, and 19-year-old PBTF scholarship recipient Allie shared their inspirational stories and thanked everyone for their support.
More inspiration came from Dr. Duane Mitchell, assistant professor of neurosurgery at the PBTF Institute at Duke University. "Motorcyclists aren't just making a difference," he said. "You ARE the difference."
The top individual fundraisers were Mike and Travis Phillips of Richmond, who brought $23,790. Members of STAR Touring and Riding 208 turned in $29,526 to take top club/chapter honors, while Burcham's Cycles of Colonial Heights was the top motorcycle business with $25,490 in customer donations. Mickey Strider of Bumpass, Va., won the grand-prize Honda motorcycle.
Special thanks to Richmond's dedicated volunteer task force, led by Kerry Abrams and Mike Seibert, along with visitation leader Linda Carr. They and their event volunteers put on a ride for the record books.
