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Last Mile Ride raises $32,000
for end-of-life care
Randolph's Alan Heath wins new motorcycle
The 2009 Last Mile Ride – Gifford Medical Center’s fourth annual charity motorcycle ride – raised more than $32,000 for end-of-life care Saturday, when motorcyclists from around the state and beyond converged on the Randolph hospital.
Links See more photos of the 2009 ride |
Riders called the event “well organized,” “a home run” and “a great ride” for a great cause.
Led by Orange County Sheriff Bill Bohnyak and members of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, more than 180 bikers participated, driving through Bethel, South Strafford, Thetford, Norwich, White River Junction and Quechee, where they stopped for a quick break at the famed Quechee Gorge.
Riders then continued to Woodstock, Barnard, came back through Bethel on their way to hospital, where a chicken barbecue lunch, music by Randolph band Hillary and Party Crashers, massages from Massage Professionals of Randolph and plenty of prizes awaited.
Riders who raised the most for the cause were awarded gifts from area motorcycle dealers. Brookfield’s Tim Schroeder earned the top prize – a $300 gift certificate to Lucky’s Motor Sports in Royalton – for the $2,050 he collected for the cause.
Schroeder’s key to raising more than $2,000: he asked nearly everyone he knew – family, friends, neighbors and colleagues – to sponsor him.
“I was on the phone making lots of phone calls. Everybody I asked contributed something. And this last week I was really running, collecting all the checks of people who made pledges,” said Schroeder, a property manager and motorcycle enthusiast who does several charity rides each year.
Gifford’s ride is close to Schroeder’s heart.
For the second consecutive year, Schroeder rode in memory of former co-worker and neighbor Janell Fresolo Renner, who died in Gifford’s Garden Room.
Gifford provides special care in a garden-side suite, the Garden Room, for patients at the end of life and to their grieving families. The charity motorcycle ride was created by a Gifford motorcycle rider and nurse, Lynda McDermott, to support the Garden Room and special services for dying patients, like massages for pain management, family photos by Braintree professional Janet Miller, care packages, bereavement mailers, Grief and Loss support sessions, help with Advance Directives, staff training and much more.
“I went and visited Janell in the Garden Room and, as sad it was, that room was great,” Schroeder said. “We’re so lucky to have that facility.”
This year as part of the ride, Gifford offered tours of the Garden Room and the perennial CourtyardGarden just outside. Hospice singing group River Bend sang in the garden.
“That really touched my heart,” said Schroeder, recalling his own mother’s death in Connecticut. The family sat on hard hospital chairs and had to leave when visiting hours ended. His mother died during the night alone.
Linda Chugkowski, a Gifford Board of Trustees member and Northfield rider, had a similar experience. She lost her brother-in-law last year to cancer. He died at home. She wished he’d had a place like Gifford to go.
Chugkowski, another top fund-raiser, rode in his memory and also that of Northfield native Naomi Drown, who passed away last year at age 25 of cancer, following a stay in Gifford’s Garden Room.
Drown’s family participated in the ride and her father, Frank Drown, the second highest fund raiser spoke. Hearing Drown speak of his family’s experience in the Garden Room, thinking of her brother-in-law and seeing people along the route holding signs of support made the event special, Chugkowski said.
“It’s just a good feeling inside that you’re doing something great,” she said.
Chugkowski’s employer, Northfield Savings Bank, was also a sponsor of the ride.
“Northfield Savings Bank I think sponsored it because they’re a community bank and Gifford is a great community resource,” said Chugkowski.
Fellow sponsor John Connor, an owner and vice president of Connor Contracting Inc. in Berlin, said supporting the ride was an opportunity for the company to give back.
“We have a great respect for anyone who works in the health care community,” Connor said. “The facility that Gifford has is beautiful for families and friends to be able to gather with someone who is terminally ill.”
Gifford has supported end-of-life care through the Last Mile Ride for four years. The first ride raised $7,000, in 2007 fund-raising jumped to $15,000 and last year $23,000 was raised.
This year’s $32,000 achievement was more than organizers anticipated.
“I had goose bumps as I tallied the numbers. I was astounded. The support we have received for this event continues to amaze me, and knowing that this support allows us to continue to care for our neighbors and friends at the end-of-life makes the event – and the effort so many put in – all the more special,” said Ashley Lincoln, director of development, marketing and public relations for the hospital.
She attributed the ride’s success to motorcyclists’ efforts to raise funds, Gifford staff’s work to provide quality care, the many Gifford staff who volunteered Saturday at the ride, community support and to the many sponsors who contributed to this year’s ride. Among them were Lucky’s, Connor Contracting, Northfield Savings Bank, Acadia Benefits, E-Management, Rain or Shine Tent Co., Magee Office Plus, CPSI, Gillespie Fuels, Hannaford, Helms and Co., Mascoma Savings Bank and Schiring Radiographic Imaging. 
Lucky’s contribution included part of the cost of a 2009 Yamaha V Star 950 motorcycle, which the hospital raffled off. The winner of the nearly $8,000 bike was Alan Heath of Randolph, and no one was more surprised than.
He didn’t know that his wife Terry Heath, a massage therapist who works with many Garden Room patients and volunteered at Saturday’s ride, had even entered him in the raffle.
“I bought them not really with any intention that I would win. I really like the (end-of-life care) program. I just think it’s a great program for the community, patients and patients’ families. It’s special to me,” said Terry Heath.
Terry Heath was in the middle of massage a rider in Saturday’s blazing heat when her husband was announced as the winner. She said little as heads turned her way. “I still can’t believe it was drawn and we won it,” she said.
Lincoln called Alan Heath at home to say that he’d won “a bike.”
Alan Heath rides a bike, but the pedal kind. “I rode a mini-bike once. That’s the closest I ever got a motorcycle.”
He wasn’t sure what to make of Lincoln’s call.
“At first I thought it was some sort of marketing thing,” he said, envisioning having to buy into a timeshare to collect his prize, “and then I was kind of in shock.”
While they’re not sure what they’ll do with the nearly $8,000 gift, they do know they’re thankful – for Lucky’s and for their local hospital.
“We went down to see it that night and it’s a beautiful motorcycle. Lucky’s was very generous to do this,” Alan Heath said. “We’re so fortunate to have a very good hospital right in our community, especially with a program like this. We feel very lucky.”
“Yes, ‘lucky’ is the word,” his wife added.
Also raffled was a quilt Gifford nursing staff lovingly made and donated for a second year in a row. It went to Randolph rider Hildy Jones.
The 2010 ride, the fifth annual, will be held Aug. 21 at Gifford. Mark your calendars!
Share your experience with the Last Mile Ride by e-mailing mystory@giffordmed.org.