At 7:30AM, in Asbury Park, N.J., more than 300 cyclists kicked-off Chai Lifeline’s fourth annual Bike4Chai fundraiser. The two-day, 175-mile ride concludes at “The World’s Greatest Finish Line” at Camp Simcha, the special overnight summer camp designed to meet the medical and social needs of children and teens with cancer and other with serious illnesses in Glen Spey, N.Y., to which all funds will be donated.

Bike4Chai riders commit to raising a minimum of $3,600, but many raise substantially more funds. Collectively, to date, the riders have raised $2.6 million, surpassing the $1.8 million raised by Bike4Chai 2012. Camp Simcha costs approximately $3 million each summer to operate and staff with medical professionals.

Seven-year-old Samara Sheller of Chesterfield, N.J. is Bike4Chai’s Honorary Captain, selected for her bravery during surgeries and treatment. Samara, who was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, will be attending Camp Simcha for the first time this summer. “We never felt more embraced in our lives, than during this time of loneliness and fear,” said Dara Sheller, Samara’s mother. “Chai Lifeline became our new extended family, and throughout the lengthy hospital stays we knew that we were never alone.”

Bike4Chai is an annual fundraiser for Chai Lifeline, whose mission is to bring joy to seriously ill children’s lives and hope to their families. Camp Simcha and its sister camp, Camp Simcha Special, give more than 400 sick children and teens a summer filled with love and activities that leaves them with the confidence and resilience they need to continue to fight their illnesses. In addition to camp, Chai Lifeline offers children, their families, and their communities two dozen year-round free programs and services that enable them to face the crises, treatment and long-term impact of illness.

Bike4Chai was started in 2009 when just one rider, Dovid Egert of Lakewood, N.J., made the initial trip, raising $10,0000, and it has been growing ever since. In 2010, 38 riders raised $220,000; 93 riders raised $550,000 in 2011; 192 riders raised $1,887,000 in 2012, and in 2013, with fundraising still underway, 300 riders have raised more than $2 million to date.

For more information, visit www.chailifeline.org and www.campsimcha.org.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC – Photo by Hillel & Yitzy Engel)