Take a Journey of the Heart and Cycle for a Cause

PURDYS, NY – May 22, 2009 – From Friday, September 11th through Sunday September 13th 2009, enthusiastic cyclists will participate in the Fifth Annual Friends of Karen Journey of the Heart Bike Tour. This three-day 150-mile bike tour will begin at the Apple Tree Inn, in Lenox, Massachusetts and continue through the rolling hills and along the bucolic roads of Litchfield and Berkshire Counties.

Thanks to corporate sponsorships, 100% of every rider’s $2,500 minimum pledge will go directly to the families Friends of Karen supports. “While asking for money can be uncomfortable,” says Gwen Salmo, Friends of Karen’s Special Events Coordinator,” cancer and other life-threatening illnesses do not discriminate based on income level, race, gender or any other factors. Any of us could be in the shoes of these families. Our riders and volunteers find that the critical financial and emotional support Friends of Karen provides, make it so much easier to ask friends and colleagues for donations.”

Every rider is assigned a Friends of Karen child and provided with a brief bio and photo of the child on whose behalf they will be riding. These critically ill children and their families experience significant hardship and exhibit tremendous bravery as they battle their illnesses. Friends of Karen riders agree that it is this inspiration that keeps them going during the difficult final miles.

Whether you are a casual peddler or an avid cyclist, join us on this September’s Friends of Karen’s Journey of the Heart.

To learn more about the tour, join this year’s cyclists at the Pedal-Off Dinner on Thursday, June 11 at 7:00pm. Those interested please contact Gwen Salmo, 914-617-4051 or gwensalmo@friendsofkaren.org to reserve a space and most of all, to sign up to cycle for this great cause. For more information about Friends of Karen go to our website at www.friendsofkaren.org.

Friends of Karen (www.friendsofkaren.org), headquartered in Purdys, New York, provides financial assistance, emotional and advocacy support for children with life threatening illnesses and their families. The charity founded by Sheila Petersen in 1978, works to ensure the financial and emotional well being of families coping with the extraordinary demands of their children’s life threatening illnesses. Monies raised from this and other events provide a broad range of individualized support programs including assisting families with medical expenses not paid for by insurance, transportation to and from treatment programs, support with child care for siblings and assisting with household expenses due to loss of income.

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