Back on February 1, you heard about Karen Luimes and her two kids who were cycling across Canada as part of a team to raise money and awareness for poverty related issues. Karen’s been working hard training and fundraising, so we thought we’d update you on how her and her team are doing.
The training part has been challenging as it’s not always easy as a family of seven to coordinate time to train. Karen said they are probably averaging 35 km per day, with some days over 100 km, and some days they simply aren’t able to get on the road. The three riders recently got new bikes, which was a big help for their coming life on the road. Karen explained that sometimes parts are difficult to find for older bikes, so new bikes were a good investment because if repairs are needed, parts are much easier to find.
The team called “Exselldragonflys” is currently $6000 short of their team goal, which includes the proceeds from the Albert Dyk’s Memorial BBQ that was held on May 13. The team was on the receiving end of a generous $3000 donation from the BBQ. The Kemptville Christian Reformed Church were the hosts for the event and had in excess of 200 people come out for a delicious chicken dinner where each half chicken dinner could’ve fed two people. People were able to eat at the church or get dinner to go. Karen herself is $4000 short of her own personal fundraising goal, but is hopeful that she can make it in time for her flight to Vancouver on June 23.
The ride itself starts in Vancouver on June 26 and ends on August 31 in Halifax, with a flight home to Ottawa on September 1. Karen’s son Seth (14) and daughter Eve (12) will be riding with their mother all of the way to Ottawa. At that point, on August 13, a friend will be joining Karen for the rest of the journey to Halifax. There’ll be a total of 135 riders participating in the ride with 52 of them doing the whole trip. The youngest rider will be Eve at 12 and the oldest will be 81.
If you’d like to donate to Karen’s trip, you can email dragonflycustomphotobooks@gmail.com or follow this link https://my.seatosea.org/Donate and click on ‘donate to a fundraiser’ and enter Karen’s name. If you want to donate to the team, go to the same link and click on ‘donate to a team’ and enter the team name ‘Exselldragonflys’.