Shrewsbury-Grafton PMC Kids Ride to raise money to help fight cancer: June 1

SHREWSBURY, Mass. — This spring, the Shrewsbury-Grafton Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) Kids Ride will be one of 37 PMC Kids Rides throughout New England and beyond. In 2013, the PMC Kids Rides program attracted nearly 4,700 cyclists, ages 2 to15, who rode between one and 26 miles in mini-bike-a-thons to raise money for cancer care and research.

The PMC Kids Rides are spokes in the PMC wheel, joining the more than 5,800 adult PMC cyclists in their mission to fund adult and pediatric patient care and cancer research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute through the Jimmy Fund. The PMC is a two-day, 190-mile bike-a-thon held the first weekend of every August. Since 1980, the PMC has raised $414 million for the Jimmy Fund.

PMC Kids Rides offer a way for children to become part of the PMC mission, involving young people in volunteerism and fundraising in a safe and athletic way. Since the first ride in 1998, The PMC Kids Rides program has raised more than $5.5 million.

To provide the young cyclists with an additional push, the PMC recognizes cyclists in the Kids Rides program who raise $250 or more. Riders who meet this goal are honored as Heavy Hitters and receive an official PMC sack pack and certificate to acknowledge their fundraising achievements. 

The Shrewsbury-Grafton PMC Kids Ride expects more than 100 children, ages 3 to 13, to ride a series of circuits around UMass South Street Campus in Shrewsbury. The event was started in 2010 by two local high school students Casey Wagner and David Millette, both PMC veterans. Last year, as they prepared to move on to college, they recruited an impressive team of parents, cancer survivors, community leaders and peers who have since taken over and helped to grow the mini bike-a-thon. The Shrewsbury-Grafton PMC Kids Ride will hold a party after the ride, which will include a complementary barbeque, games, entertainment and face-painting. The ride hopes to raise $12,000.

The Shrewsbury-Grafton PMC Kids Ride will be held on Sunday, June 1, from 9 a.m. to noon at UMass South Street Campus located at 333 South Street in Shrewsbury. There is a $10 registration fee and a $25 fundraising minimum. All PMC Kids Rides are sponsored by the Yawkey Foundation. Local sponsors for the Shrewsbury-Grafton PMC Kids Ride include: Ransford Environmental Solutions, Commerce Bank, Percy’s, Wicked Twisted Pretzel of Grafton, Wagner Auto Group and UniBank. Contributions can be made payable to the Pan-Mass Challenge. To register, visit http://kids.pmc.org. For more information, contact Karyn Wagner at mkwagner@charter.net or call 800-WE-CYCLE.

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