Do Good: Why I Decided to Participate in Pedal the Cause for the First Time This Year
The thing about cancer is that it doesn’t discriminate. Even during a terrible pandemic, even during this wave of cultural unrest, even during an election year, we still have friends and loved ones dying from cancer.
This year, my family was introduced to Pedal the Cause. In years past we’ve happily participated in countless runs, walks, and events to benefit the cure for cancer. Our family—like yours I’m guessing—has been personally impacted by cancer and we’re always happy to do our part. But this year was different. Our favorite runs were canceled, our beloved trivia nights and charitable events postponed. Then, when we got word that Pedal the Cause was having an entirely new kind of event, a “choose your own adventure” if you will, we were excited to jump in.
Let me explain. Pedal the Cause, was founded in 2009 with the bold model of using 100% of donations from its annual event to fund world-class cancer research at Siteman Cancer Center and Siteman Kids at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. In 2019, PTC celebrated its 10th year with 3,725 riders and spinners and 522 kids riding to raise $4.74 million. Although we can’t all gather this year due to COVID-19, PTC is launching a new model called “PTC Inspired” that will take place next weekend on September 26 and 27, and offer participants the opportunity to choose their own physical challenge: biking, spinning, running, walking or another activity. Participants will complete these challenges on their own, in small groups, or together with their families throughout the weekend—all while raising money for cancer research. How cool, right?
We started a team, called The Daily Wild for our family, and would love to invite you to join in and donate. You can choose your own activity and participate safely in your neighborhood. And we can all post virtually to share our progress with friends. This is the first opportunity we’ve had to chat with our three and five-year-old about giving back in this way. It’s been wonderful to see their little minds at work coming up with ideas on how they can help and trying to understand why its important. They had so many questions, and while some were hard to answer it gave us such a wonderful chance to explain the process of doing the right thing and helping change the world.
Who’s in?
You can find our team link here and learn more about signing up. Make sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook to follow along on race day!
Photo by Arek Adeoye.