I have mentioned “The Cruise with a Cause” as I had the opportunity to plan and participate this year, with a number of great individuals. I also said I would write a blog post dedicated to it……well here it is.
At the end, I am asking for rider feedback…. please consider it.
I will post all the social media connections to this years celebrities at the bottom – well, not all their social media, just the ones that I actually know of… I am not an instragram person, but most of them are – so I expect that you can find them on there too.
If anyone has heard the expression that “the sum is greater than the total of all the parts”, you are usually standing around have a good BS session with some friends and an idea comes to mind, that everyone thinks is just plain GENIUS… “Hey, we should plan a motorcycle trip”. This is how the Cruise with a Cause, or CwaC (pronounced “quack” by almost everyone) got started and found the form that it used for the last 3 years. One the men of that discussion group was Graham Wardle, from CBCs Heartland, and he talked a number of his cast mates into coming along.
The first year was put together in 2013, it raised money for Prostate Cancer, and travelled a loop through Southern BC, to the Kootenays, up through the Interior, and back to Vancouver. This inaugural event was a great success, even if there was a bit of rain, and some road construction that slowed things down. The 2014 ride raised money for Sophie’s Place, a safe place for abused kids, and travelled from Vancouver through Whistler, Kamloops, Kelowna then back to Chilliwack via the Hope Princeton highway (excellent riding country). Turns out, it was a bigger success than the year before, so it proved that the success of the first year wasn’t a fluke.
With 2015 approaching, the team had to figure out how to make it a little bigger, and again different. Using Alberta as a launch pad, and partnering with mental health charities such as Canadian Mental Health Association. The group of stars from CBCs Heartland (Alisha Newton, Amber Marshall, Graham Wardle and Shaun Johnston) and a healthy entourage of helpers, kicked the event off with a meet and greet for their fans at Calgary Harley Davidson.
The next morning we launched into the wind towards BC, and powered through the rain that was falling most of the time between Lake Louise and Revelstoke, calming enough for Graham to continue the fun of live streaming on Periscope at our various stops, such as Rogers Pass. We managed to have rain every day, even if we were just trying to go for a fun short ride (like down Westside Rd in Kelowna), or our mega haul in the late night darkness, complete with a hail storm, when we arrived in Cranbrook. The rain, cold and wet was quite a theme during this trip but it didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the crowds.
Due to some foresight and a large dollop of luck, many of the meet and greet events were held indoors, allowing for fan interactive opportunities that ensured many photos were taken of the stars as they signed autographs. Demonstrating that the event continues to be successful, the crowd in Vernon was HUGE. There is no way we could move everyone through the line, so we moved to a backup plan which helped get some autographed photos into the hands of the fans. Concerned for the potential size of the High River crowd, we decided to put the stars on display in a question and answer format, which proved to be a great success as Graham live streamed the event on his phone via periscope again and took questions from the world audience in addition to those present outside “Maggie’s Diner”.
A charity ride like this is nothing without the dedicated volunteers and sponsors. With each year’s growth, the sponsors play a larger and larger part. 2015 proved to be one of our largest fundraising ventures through the generous sponsorship of Fresh is Best salsa from Kamloops BC, who has been a part of every ride in some way. Other supporters/partners that made this ride a success include Joe Schmucks (very motorcycle friendly place to stay and eat in Sicamous), Lakeside Villa Inn and Suites (Penticton), Best Western Vernon Lodge (love the Atrium inside), Prestige Inn and Suites (Cranbrook), and Heritage Inn (High River). We have a number of other businesses that showed us some love with various other background aspects of the CwaC, please go to our website to check them out (blatant website promotion intentional). You can check it out at www.cruisewithacause.ca or www.cwac.ca
I will be organizing more rides in 2016, most likely not “CwaC”s, and want to find the best possible events to ensure that riders get the best value for their supporting dollar. As a planner, I am figure out – what are the best features and components of a good ride? or what makes a good ride – great? or better yet – what makes a great ride, EPIC?
So, in order to achieve this, I would like to send people surveys, and ideas to ask for your feedback. If this is something you would be willing to do, please go sign up on the newsletter page, and ensure to click on the “ride feedback” checkbox (feel free to sign up for my newsletter too). I will send requests for peoples opinions on some of my ideas (which may have been called a little weird in the past). You will always have the option to unsubscribe and be taken off the list in every email you get from me, and I won’t use any information that I get from you for anything but these questions.
I am also going to try and find a way to do surveys and questionnaires here on the website, but I haven’t learned that trick yet.
Being a government employee currently on what amounts to a leave of absence due to illness, I can’t afford to offer any compensation for your opinions. But, what I can do – is that if I organize a ride, and you want to come along, I will try to find a way to include you in the event.
Thanks
Anyway – here is the bunch of the CwaC celebrities and their social media – give them a like or follow if you are so inclined.
Graham Wardle Twitter Graham is one of the Founders
Don McLeod Don is the other Founder
Shauns FB page There is an imposter account on FB as well.
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