September 29, 2009
A historic journey: PMC riding high after raising $270 million in 30 years
In 1980, Pan-Massachusetts Challenge (PMC) Executive Director and Institute Trustee Billy Starr brought together a group of 36 friends to attempt a challenging 220-mile bike ride in an effort to raise money to combat cancer. The cause was wholly personal, as the disease had claimed the lives of Starr's mother, uncle, cousin, and so many others. In that first ride, they managed to raise $10,200 for the Jimmy Fund to support cancer research and care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. And so the PMC was born.
From then on, Starr would commit himself to organizing the bike-a-thon each year, telling Dana-Farber to expect annual checks that would increase in value. Three decades later, Starr and the PMC have done just that by cumulatively raising nearly $270 million and, in the process, earning the distinction of being the largest athletic fundraising event in the U.S.
"Running the Pan-Mass Challenge for the past 30 years has been a privilege," said Starr. "I could never have predicted my life's course. But, at the end of the day, to have steered a ship that continues to remain relevant and contributes so much to the war on cancer is all I could ever have hoped for.
"As I reflect on the past 30 years, I'm overwhelmed by the passion, positive energy, and community that has become the PMC."
The 2009 PMC carried on its long tradition of success as 5,000 riders took to the roadways across Massachusetts Aug. 1 and 2 to raise an anticipated $30 million in critical funding for Dana-Farber. With the blazing summer sun on their backs, riders were encouraged along the PMC's 190-mile route, supported at every turn by the event's presenting sponsors, the Boston Red Sox, the Red Sox Foundation, and Overstock.com, along with 200 in-kind sponsors and more than 2,800 volunteers who operated food and water stations.
Off the course, this year's cyclists had added assistance with their fundraising by utilizing a new online system, the PMC PaceLine, which offered a more personal connection for donors and helped riders reach out to even more supporters.
Riding to Remember
Despite being diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2002 and later with malignant melanoma in 2004, Jay Zeiger saddled up each summer to participate in the PMC to fight cancer. Sadly, Zeiger lost his battle with the disease in 2007. On Father's Day, wearing a purple T-shirt she designed to honor Jay's favorite color, 11-year-old Emma Zeiger paid a very special tribute to her father by riding in her third PMC Kids Ride through Newton and Needham, Mass.
"I was happy to see all the money we raised, but it was also sad because everyone was there with their fathers, and I don't have one to be with," said Emma.
The PMC Kids Ride program offers children between the ages of 3 and 15 an opportunity to participate in individual bike-a-thons in support of the PMC mission. Started in 1998 with one Kids Ride, this rapidly expanding portion of the PMC continues to grow and included 35 individual rides this year, up from 26 last year. The 2009 Kids Rides were expected to raise more than $750,000 toward the PMC's overall goal with added incentive this year: Patrick Byrne, a three-time cancer survivor and chief executive of Overstock.com — a PMC presenting sponsor — pledged an additional $500,000 to the PMC Kids Ride program.
For Emma, the loss of her father inspired her to continue her fundraising efforts and look ahead to someday participating in the longer ride when she is old enough. "I'm going to keep raising as much money as I can," she said. "I am not going to stop. What keeps me coming back is that I don't want anyone else to lose someone. I don't want anyone else to feel the way I do."
