Teams of bike riders put their legs to the test for a fundraiser in support of the Open Arms Campaign for the YMCA of the Blue Water Area. See the bikers in action and hear how their efforts will impact the community.
[Sponsored by Woman’s Life Insurance]
Transcription of Story:
Bike for the Y is a competition for cyclists from around the county to raise awareness to the YMCA’s annual Open Arms campaign.
Michelle Johnson- So today we’re having uh two events in one one is our bike for the Y, which is um based on fundraising and getting donations and the awareness of the YMCA, and then we also have Discover the Y, which is open to everybody in the community completely free to come in and try out the pool, hang out with Why on the Fly, and even do um some activities with our personal trainer so much more Open Arms campaign is our annual campaign that we have throughout the year that raises funds for our programs, such as our Livestrong program, which is our cancer survivor program, also our Catch program, which is our after school our food programs um such as the One MA handles um throughout the year that feeds 22,000 plus kids um a year because of our wonderful sponsors, such as Cawood, and our other sponsors that we have um that jumped in to help support and put this all together.
Pedro Teal- I am in sales at Cawood, and we are a Honda dealer for new cars, and then we sell a ton of pre-owned cars. a lot of everything for that part, Cawood is actually family-owned in the community for over 100 years, so we like to sponsor anything local. We’re all about Port Heron and helping different organizations. Anything that we can have in Port Huron specifically and support the community is great. We don’t have a ton of things like this, so anything that we can do to help, we’re all for it.
LeeAnn Baker- Well, hey there guys, I’m here with Sheila. She’s one of my Barbie Riders. We’re down here at the YMCA biking for, and what that means to us is we have a team of four that comes in, they get on the bike, they ride ride ride to get a lot of miles as they can, and people donate money to keep them going. So, um, these dollars feed our programs, such as uh Sheila Sheila has a program for cancer called Livestrong. We can’t do it without that, so we need your donations. people please call down and donate to your favorite team. We have so many programs going on, such as our food program here, uh we feed over 500 children a week in the school district um we have our Livestrong program.
Sheila Volker- Our Livestrong program is for people that have cancer, and we’re trying to get them rest strong, help them mentally get back in the game, um stretching flexibility. We also have a cancer support group that’s free to the community, and we can’t do it without the help from you guys donating.
LeeAnn Baker- Yeah, so it’s so important that we have these programs that or these events on that help fund our programs because, without them, we can’t keep going, so we do need your donations so.
Sheila Volker- And we have fun!
LeeAnn Baker- And we have fun, as you can see.
Cailin Williams- The proceeds from this event go to the Open Arms campaign. Every dollar donated stays local and has a lasting impact on our community with Thumb Coast TV. I’m Cailin Williams.
