SUNY Geneseo student Patrick McKinney of Wingdale will this summer bicycle across the country for charities.
Sophia Garber, who graduated in May with a psychology major and a communications minor, is biking for the 4K for Cancer program, a fundraising effort for the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. The Fund is a non-profit organization that raises money to support young adults affected by cancer.
“It’s such a good organization, especially for young adults, and they set up so many of these rides.” Garber said. “I’m excited.”
Patrick McKinney, a junior working on a degree in political science and psychology, is riding in The Journey of Hope in support of disabled and differently-abled people.
Garber of Yorktown Heights and McKinney of Wingdale will start from opposite sides of the country and progress some 70 to 100 miles per day until they make it to the other side.
Baltimore to San Fran
Garber and 26 other riders will make stops to volunteer such as delivering chemo care bags to hospitals, awarding scholarships and meeting some of the people that the Ulman Cancer Fund has helped. Each rider raises $4,500 for the Ulman Cancer Fund as part of the 4K for Cancer program.
In June, Garber and her fellow riders will meet in Baltimore, Md., home of The Ulman Cancer Fund, before embarking on their journey, which ends in August in San Francisco, Calif. The riders will stop to rest and sleep along the way at hospitals, churches and high schools. The organization of resting stops is a job that is shared among the riders and organizers.
“I’ve been calling places in Idaho,” Garber chuckled, referring to potential stops for the ride.
On her fundraising page, Garber wrote: “I want to bike across the country to raise awareness, to make connections and to honor all of those who have won, lost or are still fighting their battle with cancer.”
Garber is well prepared for this endeavor. She has undertaken two similar rides during high school: one from Massachusetts to Vermont, another from Massachusetts to Quebec. Beyond those experiences, she either goes out on her bike or rides a spin exercise machine every day. After her ride is over Garber will go to work for the Ulman Cancer Fund, filling one of its AmeriCorps positions.
San Fran to DC
McKinney’s ride, The Journey of Hope, is almost an inversion of Garber’s projected route. Starting in San Francisco and ending in Washington, D.C., McKinney is riding for The Ability Experience, a charity for the disabled, as part of his fraternity Pi Kappa Phi’s philanthropy.
McKinney’s ride will also make stops along the way during which McKinney and the other 30 or so riders will engage in fun activities with disabled and differently-abled people.
McKinney is perhaps less of a natural cyclist than Garber. He didn’t learn to ride a bicycle until he was older.
“I learned how to ride a bike at 11 years old,” he said.
In college, McKinney became more interested in physical fitness. A rower on the school’s crew team, he took on biking as a form of cross training when he couldn’t row. Since then he’s worked up to two bike-a-thons. One, in the college Union, clocked in at five hours. The next, done at home, peaked at 10 hours.
McKinney, on his fundraising page, said: “It is my goal to learn to better appreciate, and promote, the abilities of all people.”
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Sophia Garber fundraising page: http://tinyurl.com/j4kr55n
Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults page: http://ulmanfund.org or http://4kforcancer.org
Patrick McKinney webpage: https://www.classy.org/PatrickMcKinneyJOH2017
