Ride for Kids slated for Sunday at Seneca Valley
JACKSON TWP — Western Pennsylvania’s 18th annual Ride for Kids event will take place Sunday at Seneca Valley High School.
The program is a national series of motorcycle rides that supports the work of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, which aims to eliminate the challenges of childhood brain tumors by funding medical research and family support programs.
Laura Ebbert, task force leader for the group, has been involved with the organization since its introduction to the area.
“We’ve grown not only in participants but also in fundraising dollars,” Ebbert said. “Most importantly — though it’s a double-edged sword — we’ve also grown in our star participants.”
“Star” is the term assigned to every child with a brain tumor. Because some children with brain tumors have completed their treatment or are just being monitored, the foundation didn’t want to call the children “patients.”
“A lot of tumors are just monitored for growth because they’ve been shrunk or are slow-growing,” Ebbert said. “Eternal stars are what we call stars who have passed away. We view them as stars who continue to shine down on us.”
Ebbert said about 13 kids are diagnosed with brain tumors every day, and the survival rate is around 60 percent.
“When we started it was less than 40 percent, so what we’re doing is helping,” she said. “The other benefit of what we’re accomplishing is that we’re improving the quality of lives of the kids with brain tumors by providing research for less invasive treatments.”
Ebbert said there will be 15 stars attending this year while there were only four last year.
This year’s ride will be a “loop ride” and will start and end at Seneca Valley High School. Refreshments will be available in the morning during registration, which lasts from 8:30 to 10 a.m. The ride begins at 10:30 a.m. and will last about an hour. Local youths with brain tumors will be riding along and “have the chance to be bikers for a day.”
Lunch will be provided upon riders’ return. Later in the day children will talk about their experiences.
The day’s events will also include a clown, photo booth, 8-foot plinko board, carnival games, food and a chance to win a new Honda CBR300, among other prizes.
“We are anticipating 175 motorcycles this year,” she said, “and that will be a little more than 300 participants.”
Ebbert said she hopes to raise more than $44,000 this year, compared to last year’s $40,000 and 125 motorcycles.
Volunteers are still being sought, and a training meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Cranberry Township Municipal Center.
