Check, please!

[ornoth_cycling]

Saturday I went to the Pan-Mass Challenge’s check presentation ceremony. Although this was my fifth year doing the ride, it was the first time I’d ever been to the check presentation.

It was, as you can imagine, very inspirational. Billy Starr, the founder of the PMC, told us that the Dana-Farber had been named one of the top four cancer hospitals in the country for the third year in a row. He also revealed that this year the PMC was able to reduce overhead so much that they were able to donate an unbelievable 99% of every dollar raised directly to the Jimmy Fund.

Edward Benz, the President of DFCI, talked about how dramatically the human genome mapping project had improved the direction of cancer research. He also reiterated his message from last year’s check presentation: “The PMC has made what we do at Dana-Farber possible. When they write the history of how cancer was conquered, the PMC will be in chapter one.”

Four veteran riders gave brief speeches. Known as the “Cyclopaths”, they are all over 70 years of age, and have done more than 20 PMC rides since joining the event back in 1984. They shared treasured memories and laughs, but the most poignant moment came when one of them shared his memory of when polio was commonplace, and its subsequent eradication. His hope was that someday our generation would be able to tell our children that there once used to be a disease known as cancer, just as his generation can now say about polio.

Finally, after a brief dramatic skit, this year’s check was revealed: $23 million. As a bare number, it doesn’t really mean much, but think about these facts.

• That’s the largest sum ever raised by any athletic fundraising event anywhere.
   
• That’s more than twice what any other US athletic fundraising event has ever donated to charity.
   
• It’s the largest gift that the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has ever received in its sixty-year history.
   
• And, as is true every year, the PMC is the Jimmy Fund’s largest contributor, generating half that charity’s annual revenue.

Backed up by facts like that, it should be obvious that the PMC has a very real and tremendous impact on cancer research, treatment, and prevention. And that makes it easy for me to feel like I’m making a real and meaningful contribution to that cause.

I wasn’t brought up in a very philanthropic family, and raising money to fight cancer through the PMC is one of the few charitable things I have ever done. But the PMC has become a very, very important part of my life.

I derive a lot of satisfaction from riding, but I couldn’t do it without the financial support of my sponsors. The tremendous feeling of accomplishment and pride I take in being part of this cause and this wonderful organization is their gift to me, and I am genuinely honored by that gift.

As Billy Starr has said before, the ride is our reward for all the hard work we did fundraising. Well, I think I need to extend that, because the ride is really just a small part of it. The sense of satisfaction, pride, and accomplishment that comes with being part of an organization that does so much to combat such a horrific disease: that’s the greatest reward of doing the fundraising. And I owe my contributors thanks for blessing me with the ability to experience such incredibly meaningful and inspirational work.