Ride For Sick Kids

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ProQuest contributes each year to the development and maintenance of an on-line technology platform to help the Ride For Sick Kids achieve its lofty goals.

Five years ago, inspiration and the determination to do something more significant for Ronald McDonald House Newcastle (RMH Newcastle drove Ross Bingham (RMH Newcastle CEO), Tony Baj and Phil Jobling (McDonald’s Head Office Staff) join forces. Together, with a team of McDonald’s owner/operators and support staff, they created the Hadley Cycles ‘Fortunate Fathers’ Riding for Less Fortunate Kids’ Charity Bike Ride (fondly referred to as the ‘Ride for Sick Kids’).

After months of rigorous training, this group of McDonald’s owner/operators, suppliers and business partners set upon a mammoth five hundred kilometre bike ride down the New England Highway of Northern NSW in August 2005, to help fundraise for Ronald McDonald House Newcastle

Through the amazing support of business partners and the local community, what started out as a goal to raise $50,000, to help finance the facilitation of 6 self-contained units at Ronald McDonald House in the Hunter, grew to an unbelievable $85,000 – an amazing achievement which not only assisted in realising the units at the House, it helped them open early in 2006!

After the success in 2005, the Hadley Cycles Ride for Sick Kids became an annual event. In 2006, the challenge was to take on the Pacific Highway and ride from Ballina to Newcastle, a grueling and rain-soaked six hundred and eighty kilometres, with the goal to raise $100,000. Our target was again surpassed raising an incredible $115,000 over seven days.

In 2007, again challenged the New England Highway, with the target set at $105,000. For the third successive year, the charity event exceeded the target and raised $205,328.

In 2008 the ride route started in Inverell in the center of the New England District and joined the Pacific Highway at Grafton with the goal of raising $150,000.
The 2008 result once again exceeded all expectorations and raised $194,500. The Annual Ride for Sick Kids has now surpassed $600,000 for Ronald McDonald House over the past four years.