Ride2Survive’s 50/50 Event Last Weekend Raised $29,500

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SURREY – Kerry Kunzli, Richard Gestle, and Amarjit Dhadwar went up the lift and spent 50 hours, 50 feet in the air on a crane to raise money with Ride2Survive and the Hand On Back Community Services Society, benefitting the Canadian Cancer Society, taking place at the Payal Business Center in Surrey from June10-12.

This event was designed by the Ride2Survive organization, which is devoted to generating donations for the Canadian Cancer Society to assist in brain cancer research.  Ride2Survive is a non-profit, fully volunteer organization based here in British Columbia, which offers cycling events as its primary source of fundraising.  So far, they have raised over $500 000 for the 2015 calendar year, with fully 100% of these donations going towards cancer research.

The brave participants in the air stayed up for the full 50 hours, as encouragement to those below to donate to the cause.  On the ground, with Sikandar Hayat, President of the BC Liberals Surrey-Newton Riding Association and  co-founder of the Amazing Tutor’s Children’s Foundation, coordinating with Ken Usipiuk, Sunny Kainth and Vicki Kunzli, the Co-ordinators of Ride2Survive team, our amazing volunteers and students helped participate, collecting funds, coordinating traffic flow into the event, decorating the area, entertaining the group with dancing and even utilizing their public speaking skills, communicating in Punjabi to inform local residents and shoppers of the event to encourage donations.

The celebration atmosphere at the Payal Business Center was “over the top”–to see the community come out together to welcome us and our efforts.  It demonstrated the hope that Ride2Survive provides to those suffering and reveals the support for all those involved in battling the disease.  It also allows our future generations to know that they are not alone in fighting against cancer.  Thanks to research, Canadians have been able to dramatically improve the 5-year survival rate from 25% in 1947 to over 60% today. Improved treatments with prevention strategies are helping Canadians live longer.

The event concluded with the raising of $29,500 to go towards cancer research funded by the Canadian Cancer Society.  We feel extremely blessed to have been given the opportunity by Ride2Survive to engage with the community in such an important way, and to get our students out and volunteering to aid research that will positively impact so many lives.  Here at Amazing Tutors Children’s Foundation, we believe that providing our students with positive and community based volunteer activities is an essential part of their development into responsible and capable citizens whom we hope will continue to impact their communities throughout their lives.

We wish the Ride2Survive team all the best as they ride from Kelowna climbing up the Coquihalla Highway and tracing through the Cascade Mountains from 3:30 am to 10:00 pm on June 18, 2016.  This ride comprises a gruelling and a challenging physical and emotional journey, pointing out that those who battle cancer have a physical and emotional fight far greater than anything we could imagine.  Upon arriving back to Delta, B.C., they would have pedaled 400 km and climbed 12,000 feet in one day, so that all of us will benefit from their foresight and perseverance.

For more information about Ride2Survive, contact Kerry and Vicki Kunzli at  www.ride2survive.ca.