The 10th Annual Dean’s Ride fundraiser took place last month in Plant City, starting and ending at Keel Farm and featuring four different cycling distances for participants to take on as they pedal through the city’s quiet country roads.
Riders from across the country congregated on Saturday, March 26, where they were able to take in some free refreshments and snacks before the 7:30 a.m. start when participants embarked on a 61-, 35-, 24- or 9-mile ride. After the ride itself, lunch, music, craft beer and Keel Farms cider was available for everyone to enjoy.
Dean’s Ride is one of the Plant City YMCA’s largest annual fundraisers, with all proceeds going directly to the Y in support of programs like LIVESTRONG, a free wellness program for cancer survivors, as well as other programs for their members and the local community.
This year’s ride featured 212 individual participants and raised over $11,000, with both numbers finishing as the second-largest marks in their 10-year run, organized and orchestrated by an eight-person committee made up of Plant City community members.
“The event has almost doubled in size over the past couple of years and that’s 100 percent attributed to our volunteer committee,” Plant City YMCA Executive Director Paul Conley said. “We’ve had a tremendous group that’s run it. They’re passionate about it, they want it to grow and it has… I think that when get over 200 biking enthusiasts out there to raise money for a cancer survivorship program, it’s just a really fun and cool event.”
The YMCA’s LIVESTRONG program is a 12-week, small-group program aimed at helping adults who have become de-conditioned or chronically fatigued from cancer treatment and/or the disease itself, all at no cost to the survivors and their families.
“It’s a 12-week program where cancer survivors come together with one of our trainers twice per week,” Conley said. “They work on both the mental and physical aspects of overcoming cancer and during that time they have a free membership for both them and their family to the YMCA.”