How an enterprising brother and sister — and their bikes — inspired hundreds of other kids to raise millions for a great cause.
The year was 1998. Ryan Wilkinson’s grandmother was sick with cancer and the then 7-year-old wanted to do something — anything — to help. Even at that tender age, he had heard about the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge(PMC), an annual 190-mile bike trek from Provincetown to Boston that raises money for cancer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. So he eagerly asked if he could join the ride.
Despite his enthusiasm, his parents, Regina and Andrew, told him he was just too young to pedal that far. But then his father suggested something that would change the course of Ryan’s life forever: He suggested that he start his very own fundraising bicycle ride at home.
That was all the spark Ryan needed to light what would grow into a $2.3-million fundraising fire — a fire that’s still burning bright in this summer of 2010.
With his parents’ guidance, Ryan recruited his sister Hattie, then 4 (both seen above), and a few other kids in the neighborhood to plan a route, get support pledges and organize donations of water and refreshments. Dubbed the Wildwood Challenge, after the name of the Wilkinsons’ street in Medfield, Mass., 14 kids rode around the block 25 times, pedaling a total of 14.5 miles and raising just over $1,000.
That first ride was the genesis of what has grown into the largest kid-driven ride for cancer research in the world. The Wildwood Challenge — a model of youth philanthropy — is also the founding ride in a grass roots initiative that has grown into what is now known as PMC Kids Rides, a program made up of more than 30 fundraising bike-a-thons for children under the PMC umbrella. Scheduled between May and September, 6,000 children between ages two and 15 will ride in home-grown bike-a-thons scheduled across New England and beyond, raising $800,000 this year alone. From a short obstacle course for tykes on tricycles to a 26-mile trek, the 30 different PMC Kids Rides vary in course, mileage, and set-up.
The one that started it all, the Wildwood Challenge, was always scheduled on the first Saturday of summer, and to date, the Wilkinson siblings have not only raised $120,000 for cancer research themselves, they’ve inspired other kids to raise $2.3 million dollars in total by doing the very same thing they did 13 years earlier.
"I am so proud of all the other kids and people who have started rides, and I am really proud that it all came from our neighborhood block," said Ryan. "It’s certainly satisfying with all the rides popping up and all these kids trying to do the same thing we tried to 13 years ago."
Since the Wildwood Challenge has clearly outgrown their little block, this year, Ryan, a sophomore in theNew York University nursing program, and Hattie, an incoming high school senior, did not host the bike-a-thon in their neighborhood, but instead, passed the baton to two other high school students, Alex Freeman and Cal Given, to organize. Both the Wilkinsons still volunteered to help with the silent auction table at last weekend’s ride, which was moved from Wildwood Drive to a local area middle school.
Lasting Impressions
When they started their neighborhood ride, Ryan rode a BMX bike and his sister Hattie rode a pink bike with tassels and a white flowered basket — but the tradition set them both on a path of service to others, and fostered a bond between them: Ryan wants to be a nurse and Hattie wants to be involved with running nonprofits.
"My training wheels were newly removed, and [on the] last lap I fell," Hattie recalls of that first year. "All the big kids rode the last lap with me because I had fallen. And I remember all the kids got a number and I got to be number 1 that year."
Their mother, Regina, recalls, "They made posters. It was fun. That morning I woke up and I said to my husband. ‘What if nobody comes?’ and he said, ‘Well, they’ll ride and it will be fun.’" Kids certainly showed up — and would continue to show up for 12 years. "One neighbor would provide water with a hose; our house is where food and the silent auction table was, and the mail box was the start and finish line. That first year, one little guy was on a big wheel and he went around seven times."
So how did the early introduction to philanthropy influence the brother and sister?
"I don’t think my relationship with my brother would be as strong if we didn’t do the ride. He really is my best friend and it wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t have the ride to connect us," says Hattie. "I want to work with nonprofit organizations — even possibly the PMC when I’m older. Looking at the dynamic of what it does really interests me."
As for Ryan, he finally fulfilled his childhood dream of riding in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge last summer. As one might imagine, it was a thrill, he says.
PMC Kids Rides are modeled after the PMC, which, despite a tough economic year for charities, was able to maintain its pass-through rate, donating 100 percent of every rider-raised dollar directly to the charity. The 2009 PMC donated $30 million to Dana-Farber, generating $270 million for the cause since its 1980 inception. The PMC remains the largest single athletic fundraiser in the country.
Like his sister, Ryan also sees a future influenced, in part, by that time when he was seven and hopped on his BMX to go around the block 25 times at the very first Wildwood Challenge. His ultimate dream is to one day work at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the hospital for which he has spent most of his years raising money.
For more information about the 30 scheduled PMC Kids Rides, or to learn how to start your own ride for kids, visit the PMC Kids Rides website.
Know some inspiring kids in your own neighborhood? Leave a comment and tell us about them below!
Photos courtesy of the Wilkinson family and the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge.
Comments are closed.