Pipestone Flyer
A local woman will be hopping on her bicycle to help get more kids off the sidelines.
Rachel Yeung, the Leduc area’s Jumpstart representative, will be participating in a five-day bike ride from Ottawa to Quebec City next month so she can add to funds set aside to help local kids participate in sports, dance and recreational activities.
“This is a great opportunity to raise money and awareness,” she said.
Jumpstart Pedal for Kids is a five-day, 500 km cycling tour which takes place in a different part of Canada each year. This year, Canadian Tire Dealers, corporate employees across the enterprise, and friends of the corporation will ride from Ottawa to Quebec City. The goal of the ride is to raise over $675,000 to help get kids off the sidelines and into the game. In 2014, there will be a one-day, 100 km ride option from Ottawa to Hawkesbury, QC or Trois-Rivières to Quebec City.
To date, $200,752 has been raised and Yeung is among the top 10 for her donations.
To participate in the five-day ride, Yeung needed to raise $5,000. Once she hit her goal, she decided to push beyond that and set a second goal of $7,500 for herself. So far, she’s raised just over $6,000.
“One hundred per cent of the money comes back to our community and it all goes to the kids,” said Yeung, explaining that administrative costs for the program are funded from the national centre so all of the money she raised will go towards registration fees and equipment costs for kids in the Leduc County area.
“I’m excited, but a little nervous,” she said. “It’s tough to get in 100 kilometers a day in training.”
Yeung has participated in the MS Bike Tour and has been pedaling an average of 50-60 kilometers on the bike.
“This is important because there is a growing need here. A lot of kids just can’t afford to participate in these activities without the program,” said Yeung. “And to me, recreation and sports set them up for a future with a healthy lifestyle.”
Donations can be made to Yeung via a website at www.ctjumpstart.ca/rsyeung or by calling her at 780-980-8441 to make arrangements to drop off cash or cheques.
“Being able to give a child an opportunity in hockey, soccer or whatever they want to do is important. It shows the community cares,” she said.
To date Jumpstart has helped 700 kids, 100 of them since January and in July an additional 30 kids were supported.