The big bike is making its first stop of the season in Wallaceburg this year
The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Chatham-Kent is holding their annual Big Bike fundraiser at the Black Goose Grill in Wallaceburg on May 19.
“The Black Goose Grill is a really great venue, we’re encouraging people to come show up there, have lunch and donate to the cause,” said Katrina Ancheta, program coordinator.
“The goal is to raise $102,000 here in ChathamÂ-Kent. With the help of businesses….we have about 80 businesses in Chatham-ÂKent who are registered to ride the big bike across Chatham-Kent.”
The theme this year is superheroes, which is a new addition to the long running fundraiser, Ancheta said.
“We have four highschools that are involved…I’d like to see a lot more opportunities to teach people about what the Heart and Stroke Foundation does,” Ancheta said.
The schools running their own events are Wallaceburg District Secondary School, Lambton-ÂKent Composite School in Dresden, Ridgetown District High School, Chatham-Kent Secondary School.
“What we want to see is communities come together. The struggle in Chatham-Kent is that we’re not just one big city, so we have our own downtown cores,” Ancheta said.
The minimum donation for the fundraiser is 50 dollars in order to take a ride on the Big Bike.
“It’s as simple as collecting $5 from 10 people,” Ancheta said.
The bike can seat 29 individuals and a team has to have a minimum of 15 people to ride.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation provides their own driver for the bike.
If you have a smaller business and would still like to participate, Ancheta said that they are pairing small businesses together on the bike so all businesses can take part.
The Big Bike Fundraiser will run for eight days over two weeks between May 19 and May 28, with the first date in Wallaceburg.
– Story by Andrew Roebuck
– File photo by Aaron Hall
