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Walking and Biking for Meals |
| “If you do good things, God will reward you,” said Sister Alice Marie Quinn, D.C. Do-gooders from as far as Inland Empire’s Rancho Cucamonga and Orange County’s Garden Grove braved the unexpected heat to trek out to Santa Monica Beach to walk four miles and bike 10 miles at the 13th Annual Walk/Bike-a-thon benefitting St. Vincent Meals on Wheels on Sunday, April 13. In its 30th year, St. Vincent Meals on Wheels is the largest privately funded meals service in the country and currently prepares and delivers up to 1,200 meals a day, seven days a week to home-bound seniors in the Los Angeles area. Sister Alice Marie, also known as Sam, started the event in 1996 as a casual gathering with only 50 to 60 bicyclists. The event has grown in size over the years since and expanded to include walking. The event is advertised to over 50,000 St. Vincent members and this was the first year their website has played a larger role in their fundraising and advertising efforts. Because of the increased interest in the event, many have urged Sam to expand the event to include over 1,000 participants like other walk/bike-a-thons, but she thinks those events are impersonal. Adding to the personal touch was Disneyland’s own Mickey and Minnie Mouse, who traveled from their home in Anaheim to the event. Disney’s involvement was felt throughout. Former and current Walt Disney Company employees have volunteered for St. Vincent Meals on Wheels since the company first committed their involvement over 17 years ago. This effort to involve Disney was spearheaded by Joyce Holiday-Pitts when she was a Disney employee. Today, no longer at Disney, Holiday-Pitts invites her fellow Sony employees and church members to become involved. Dedicated volunteers from the Disney family include Tess Fitzpatrick who has volunteered for eight years and Dave Karin, who no longer works for Disney, for over 16. Karin said it’s a family affair for him. His wife and two daughters are involved. This is a way to give back because his parents were helped by a similar organization. Compared to previous years, there were more children and teenagers among the estimated 300 participants. This is probably due in large part to the first appointment of Youth Ambassador to actress Carly Schroeder, 18, of Disney’s Lizzie McGuire fame. The ambassador’s role is to encourage student registration for the event and increase awareness of the St. Vincent Meals on Wheels mission and service to the community at school campuses. Schroeder’s involvement was prompted by her desire to give to people at home, in the U.S., according to her mom, Kelly Schroeder. And asked, following the walk, if Carly would continue volunteering with St. Vincent she said, “for sure.” Many participants in the walk/bike-a-thon said they would come back next year and a few thought about volunteering for St. Vincent Meals on Wheels. Karin said, as soon as you hit the kitchen you want to stay on as a volunteer. You don’t ever want to leave. |