All of my life, I have been hoping to find a way to combine leisure time activity with a meaningful endeavor. Since I've been volunteering and riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge (24 years now) I wake up every morning knowing I am contributing to an event that literally saves people's lives. Money raised by the PMC funds cancer research and patient care via the Jimmy Fund at Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and it's world-renowned Jimmy Fund Clinic for children. I am particularly proud that last year, the PMC's annual gift to the Jimmy Fund was an incredible $72 million and for the eighteenth consecutive year, the PMC has achieved the previously thought-to-be-unreachable benchmark of donating 100% of every rider raised dollar - that's the money that comes from you - directly to cancer treatment & research at Dana-Farber. Administrative salaries, expenses, and the costs of running the event all come from other revenue sources such as rider registration fees, apparel sales, special events, and corporate underwriting, etc.. A dollars worth of giving = a dollar's worth of cancer research! No other charity that I know of anywhere can come close to making that claim!
Those of you who know me know that bicycle riding and the PMC have become a very big part of my warm weather life. I feel very privileged to be among a group of ~9,000 exceptionally motivated volunteers and dedicated PMC riders, and all of the generous donors who have supported my PMC rides.... all with the common goal of helping to support cancer research and finding a cure for the most dreaded disease on earth. The pain and heartache associated with the diagnosis and treatment of cancer can be life stopping in and of itself. The PMC gives all who are involved, through a wonderful sense of community and emotion, the rare opportunity to really make-a-difference in the lives of cancer patients and their families everywhere. Gail, now in heaven, and I have found our PMC experiences personally fulfilling beyond our highest expectations.
And now, here's where you come in. The PMC has never failed to meet or exceed a fundraising goal since it began in 1980. If you would like to contribute to my annual PMC fundraising effort and help me reach or exceed my PMC 2024 fundraising goal which is to raise & contribute $11,000+, make your tax-deductible check payable to: PMC/JIMMY FUND and mail it to: Bill Finan, 8 Lincoln Street, Ayer MA 01432-1907. Or, you can donate the easy-way online by scrolling to any of the Red Buttons on this page to make your tax-deductiblle e-Gift via credit card or from your Donor Advised Fund. All PMC e-Gift transactions are totally secure and are the most cost-effective way to give money to charity. The PMC sends me an immediate email acknowledgement of each e-Gift, DAF-gift, or matching gift received, thus ensuring that no gift ever goes unrecognized. Giving online via e-Gift is popular, easy, fast, safe, and totally secure. And, just so that you know, PMC donor information is never loaned, sold, offered for sale, traded, shared, or otherwise made available to anyone or any organization under any circumstances, no matter what, ever!! All gifts are welcome and none is ever too large or too small. Matching gifts are also welcome and appreciated if you have that option at work ... not sure if your company matches ... you can check at: www.pmc.org/ways-to-give/matching-gifts. If they'll match your charitable giving, as many companies do, just follow their instructions and the PMC and I will do the rest. I believe that a cure for cancer may lie somewhere on the roads from Sturbridge/Wellesley to Provincetown.......maybe just over the next hill. Please help us find it!!
Thanks in advance for your help and support in our effort to find a cure for cancer ... a cause that was so important to Gail and for helping me keep Gail's memory alive ... something that will always be so important to me! Please feel free to contact me via e-mail at whfinan@comcast.net or via text at 508/479-3750 if you require information, have any questions, or just for chat.
Proud to be a 24-year PMC'er!
Bill
whfinan@comcast.net
Team Nine....The Boston Red Sox Cycling Team
My Links
Dana- Farber