Last, Wednesday afternoon Merrill Community New Year Ride Co-Founder and board member Dennis Fick, presented a donation in the amount of $835 to Beth Houle, Coordinator of the Merrill Food for Kids program. The donation was made possible by a joint effort between the New Year Ride’s 1st Annual ‘Sunday Funday’ ATV/UTV Ride and Brat Fry Fundraiser in June, and New Year Ride Partner-‘Rosco’s Ride’ Motorcycle Ride Fundraiser led by Fick on September 8.
Food For Kids is a community outreach program, sponsored by Saint Stephens United Church of Christ, that provides weekend food for those grade school children who qualify for free and reduced price lunches and who agree to participate in Food For Kids. During the last school year, 153 grade school children were served. The total cost for the purchase of food was approximately $28,000. Volunteers from Saint Stephens purchase and store food and volunteers from First Presbyterian, Our Saviour’s, Calvary Lutheran, and Saint Stephens churches bag and distribute it to the participating schools. Cost for providing each child with food on the weekends is approximately $6. With the addition of two more schools, organizers are estimating that this school year’s needs will require funding of $28,000-$35,000. For more information on the Merrill Food for Kids program click here.
Since its inception in 2017, the Community New Year Ride organization has hosted four events and raised nearly $5,000 in support of fellow community members. The organization expanded to include three events in 2018, each being based upon a recreational ride of some type (snowmobile, ATV/UTV or motorcycle) and feature additional festivities ranging from live music, raffles, poker runs and dice runs to brat frys, bean bag tournaments and a chili cook off. The next New Year Ride event and fundraiser is set for February 2, 2019 at Z’s Fork Horners. For more information on the Merrill Community New Year Ride click here.