Bikers ready to pedal for money and food

By Jim Fuller

Gleaners Food Bank will be hosting the Ride for Hunger on May 15 in Belleville Market Square to raise funds and collect food.

“It’s going to be a huge event, bigger than last year and we have many more sponsors and a lot of things going on,” said Sarah Morrow, Gleaners Food Bank special event coordinator.

Registration for the ride will start at 10 a.m., followed by snacks and coffee. The ride begins at 11:45 a.m., starts in Belleville, and goes around the county and back, ending back in Market Square.

The pig and beef roast, provided by Pig Out Roasters, starts at 1 p.m., along with music by local band The Farside. At 1:45 p.m. the ride returns. A silent auction follows along with door prizes and ticket draws. Then everything is wrapped up by 4 p.m.

Bikers and riders who want to participate must register before or at the event. The pre-registering price is $25 for the biker and $45 with the rider. Registering at the event is $30 for the biker and $50 with the rider. This ticket includes the pre-ride coffee and snacks, the beef and pig roast and a ticket into the door prize draw.

Anybody is welcome even if they do not own a motorcycle. They are asked to bring a non-perishable food item. Walk-ins are welcome to stay and enjoy the entertainment, food, auction and draw but space is limited so the tickets are sold on a first-come first-serve basis.

Morrow said in a telephone interview that she expects more than 400 bikes to show up this year, a huge improvement in numbers from the last two years.

In the first year, it was hosted at the Early Treatment Centre on Millennium Parkway where 75 bikes showed up and $800 was raised. According to the Ride for Hunger website, the event was moved to Market Square in 2010 to accommodate a larger number of people and bikes. Over 220 bikes showed up which raised 6500 pounds of food and $11,000.

“It (last years event) was just a great, great turnout and it was so much fun,” Morrow said.

She said in previous years there were more bikers than walk-ins from the community, but this year she is expecting an equal turnout from both groups.

The Ride for Hunger is in remembrance of Janice “ICE” McLaren who was a supporter of the event. She rode with her son during the last ride for Hunger, but died after a battle with cancer.

This may be one of the biggest events Gleaners Food Bank is involved in, but it also put on many others throughout the year. It hosts Shamrocks on the Wall, which takes place during the month of March and raised $12,000 to $13,000 this year, said Morrow.

The newest event is Empty Bowls, which took place at Loyalist College and they raised under $3,000. Through the summer, Gleaners is planning on hosting a fair at their organic garden, which has been running for the last two years, she said.

“We’re the greenest food bank in Canada…(because) we have a lot of green initiatives happening,” she said.

The food bank’s organic garden is watered by solar energy pumping water from an 8,000-litre rain water reservoir tank, she said. This organic garden is located next to the Gleaners Food Bank on 25 Wallbridge Crescent. This allows the distribution of fresh produce instead of canned.

New this year, 72 solar panels were installed on the building that generates $1,400 a month for Gleaners. They are also the pilot project for Ice Bear energy, which reduces their cost for air-conditioning by 90%. They also have energy efficient freezers and lighting and continuing to build onto their location.

“We try to get the community members involved, we have a seniors’ program and we work with the John Howard society,” said Morrow. They are hoping to be starting programs for children and make it more of a community tool.

Gleaners has just less than 5,000 people and covers Belleville but the Gleaners tri-county network covers nine area food banks, 13 meal programs and 140 organizations in the Belleville area.