Stuey's Message - Saturday August 29th, 2010

Friends,               

As local riders prepare to embark on what promises to a glorious day of riding with Lance and other notable celeb's (yes I wish I was there), a small group dedicated of volunteers are working on the details for the WCC Big Ride for Women's Crisis Services of Waterloo Region.  We all have our very personal reasons for supporting the numerous charities and organizations in our community and in the case of cancer there isn't a family that I know of that has not been touched by that awful disease, it is pervasive in our society. 

Some 10 years ago I had been made aware of the work done by Anselma House, previously I had not understood the impact or even the circumstances of the services provided or the important role of the volunteers and staff of this organization.  Sadly, domestic violence is also a pervasive disease within our community, it is a dirty little secret and unlike other diseases it festers under the radar until another tragedy surfaces in the media.  For more information you can go to http://www.wcswr.org.  Currently, the Women's Crisis Services (Anselma House) having to grow and expand its facility to be able to manage the increased demand, in any other business that would be considered a good thing... think about it... that is not a good thing in this business.  Anselma house is 1 million dollars behind in its capital fund raising and is in desperate need of our help. 

The Big Ride is on Sunday September 12th (see the announcement on the WCC home page) we have a modest target of $20,000 and the only celebrities on the Big Ride will be you, but I know you will have fun, I know you will be challenged and at the end of the day we will have done a very good thing for women and their children in distress, victims of domestic violence.

Warm regards,

Stuart Connell