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UPDATE: 200 motorcycle riders raise more than $30K for Brenden’s Ride

Annual fundraiser supports programs that empower people with disabilities
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Brenden Parker poses with part of the police escort for the 2019 Brenden’s Ride. (Samantha Anderson)

A convoy of motorcycle riders, nearly 200 strong, took off from Cloverdale for Grouse Mountain on Saturday morning (June 15), as part of Brenden’s Ride.

The annual fundraiser is organized by Brenden Parker, 23, and his dad, Baron, to support programs that empower people with disabilities. This year, the efforts supported Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports, an organization that works to make the slopes accessible to everyone. VASS provides instructors and adaptive equipment to persons with a disability so that they can participate in snowboarding, sit-ski, stand-up skiing or advanced adaptive ski racing.

This year, the ride raised $30,831, and every dollar will go straight to VASS.

The riders gathered at Rusty’s Pub in Cloverdale for a hearty breakfast before starting off for Grouse Mountain, where lunch, live entertainment and a silent auction waited for them.

“It was awesome,” Baron Parker told the Reporter on Monday. “It was just unbelievable. The band was fantastic, the food was fantastic. Everybody had a great time.”

“We’re just getting tons of feedback from everybody on what a great time they had,” he said.

Even the weather cooperated — “it was a little overcast in the morning, but once we got going the clouds burned off and it was awesome, absolutely awesome.”

Organizers will finish wrapping up the 2019 fundraiser on Friday or so, he said, and then “we start planning for next year.”

Donations for VASS are still being accepted online, through brendensride.ca.



editor@cloverdalereporter.com

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Baron Parker addresses ride logistics with a crowd of assembled bikers at the 2019 Brenden’s Ride. (Samantha Anderson)