After getting their start in Traverse City 19 years ago, the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Michigan will be returning to Traverse City on Thursday, July 27, 2006, for their annual Wish-A-Mile 300 Bicycle Tour. The Wish-A-Mile 300 Bicycle Tour is the largest annual fundraising event for the Make A-Wish Foundation of Michigan. The goal of the event is to raise money to grant wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions.  Last year, 532 cyclists raised over $775,000 to grant over 100 wishes of terminally ill children throughout Michigan.

Participants range in age from 13-84 years old, and come from throughout Michigan, the greater United States, and even international locations to ride in this spectacular event. This year promises to be the largest ever – nearly double last year’s turnout – with over 900 riders registered.  TCAPS has partnered with Make-A-Wish Foundation to provide logistics and hospitality support for the annual event. Cyclists will bed down at Traverse City Central High School, then leave early the next morning for their three-day, 300-mile ride to the Ann Arbor area.

“This will be a huge event, not only in terms of the group’s positive impact on meeting the wishes of children, but also in terms of the logistical effort to pull it off,” said Phillip Haldaman, Director of Buildings and Grounds for Traverse City Area Public Schools. “Our food services, site custodial personnel, and student groups from Central High School have been doing a lot of behind the scenes work to ensure this event comes off without a hitch; the less site detail the Make-A-Wish event directors have to worry about, the more they can concentrate on what they do best – raising money for the children,” Haldaman said.            

Semi-truck loads of food, mobile showers, medical teams, massage therapists, and a team of over 200 volunteers will be deployed and travel with the cyclists on their 300-mile journey from Traverse City to Ann Arbor.

The tour will conclude with a huge celebration dubbed, “The Heroes Hurrah”, where all cyclists and volunteers are paired with a Wish Hero, a child who has already received a wish from the Foundation. Last year, over 2,000 people, including an audience of many terminally ill children, cheered on the riders as they crossed the finish line. “You should have seen it; there wasn’t a dry eye in the place,” said Rebecca Bunting, former Special Events Director for last year’s event. “Everyone was cheering and crying because they were so happy as all those riders came in,” she said. Haldaman agreed, “one cannot imagine the impact this event will have on the hearts of these children [who have life-threatening medical issues] and their families as they watch all those riders stream across the finish line who, in a sense, are racing against time on behalf of children who may not have all that much time left.”  “That TCAPS was even chosen to lend a hand in helping launch such an event is truly an honor for us, and for Traverse City,” he said.

Please contact TCAPS’ Director of Buildings and Grounds Phillip Haldaman at 342-1735 for more information.