BRATTLEBORO — When Dr. Robert Nassau and seven other cycling enthusiasts decided in 2010 to undertake a two-day ride from Derby Line to Brattleboro to raise money for the Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro, they had no idea they were creating a major fundraising event.
The fourth annual Going the Distance Ride takes place on Saturday, June 29 (rain date is June 30), with loop routes of 30, 60, or 100 miles along the Connecticut River that start and finish at the Marlboro College Graduate School on Vernon Street.
There will be stops with food and drink at approximately 20-mile intervals. Both of the longer routes have a catered lunch midway with a chance to swim. “Sag wagons” will ride the route to support the riders. The day ends with an end-of-ride picnic on the patio of the Graduate School.
According to Nassau, last year's ride had 70 riders who raised more than $46,000. He said he is confident this year's event will surpass that figure.
“Turning it into a one-day event got a lot more people involved,” he said. “It has definitely grown since the first ride.”
Nassau said each rider is asked to raise $500 or more for the club. There will be T-shirts and other goodies for all riders, and prizes for the top fundraisers.
The Going the Distance Ride has become key to the financial health of the club, Nassau said.
“When I started on the club's board of directors eight years ago, we were heavily dependent on federal funding,” he said. “The money we raise with the ride has helped us diversify our funding and make us less vulnerable to budget cuts.”
But just as important as raising money, Nassau said, the event helps raise the club's visibility in the community.
“We get people who like doing distance rides, but they also learn about the club and what we do,” he said. “It has a ripple effect as more people get involved with the ride.”
The club has 1,100 members who participate in activities at the main clubhouse on Flat Street, and satellite programs at Westgate Apartments in Brattleboro and in Bellows Falls. It also serves more than 3,000 non-member area youth.
“The indoor skatepark (inside the Flat Street clubhouse) is definitely a draw, since we're the only club in the country that has one,” Nassau said. “But the mentoring that the club provides really makes a difference. We have a 100 percent high school graduation rate and a zero percent teen pregnancy rate among our members.”
With 60 percent of club members qualifying for free or reduced-rate school lunches, and 63 percent coming from single-parent households, Nassau said the club is serving the young people who need its services the most.
“It's a safe place to be, and a place where kids can have experiences they would not be able to have otherwise,” he said. “Their horizons are broadened, their vision is expanded, and they start to realize they can do things that they never thought they could do.”