Hi friends!

I just wanted to tell you all about the Wapiyapi Classic, a charity ride on Sunday, September 26th in Aspen. Even though we have Lance Armstrong involved, we are a very small non-profit organization and not a lot of people have heard of us. I just wanted to tell you all a little about the small non-profit that does big things and why I decided to get involved in creating this ride.

100% of the proceeds from the ride will go to Wapiyapi, a Colorado non-profit that helps children with cancer and their families. The largest portion of the proceeds will go to our summer camp, Camp Wapiyapi. Camp Wapiyapi consists of two, weeklong sessions in Estes Park for kids with cancer and their siblings, free of charge to the children. Each child is paired with an adult companion (most often a college or med student) who is their best friend for that week. Activities include food fights, ropes courses, fishing, newspaper fashion shows, a talent show, arts and crafts, bonding with other children who can relate to them and all the fun of the outdoors under the watchful eye of a medical staff.

Our campers call Camp Wapiyapi "the best week of the year" for a good reason. This camp means so much to these kids. They look forward to it ever year as an opportunity to reclaim some of the childhood that cancer threatens to take away. At camp they don't have to be embarrassed by scars, bald heads or the medication they have to take. No one judges them and they can be themselves.

Every year we have a handful of counselors shave their heads (guys and girls) to help the kids feel like they fit right in. When I was a camp counselor, a 7 year-old boy told me that he was glad he had cancer so that he could come to Camp Wapiyapi. That is how much this camp means to these kids and is the reason we try so hard to raise funds for this organization.

It costs $750 to send a child to camp. This year we had to turn away a little over 20 children because we simply didn't have the funding to bring them to camp. Our goal with this ride is to never have to turn another deserving child away and open even more spots for children touched by cancer. The success of this ride will help us reach this goal.

In addition to it being a great cause, it's going to be a great, scenic ride with a 25 and 50 mile course option. There are some pretty incredible prizes for top fundraisers, including the opportunity to start the ride with Lance, if you are a top 20 fundraiser, a Trek Madone 5.2, a piece of jewelry worth $5,500, and a weekend in Aspen for two including 5-star hotel accommodations, dinner and lift tickets.

If you are interested in registering or would like more info, please visit, www.wapiyapiclassic.com.

Keep riding!

Meghan

meghan@wapiyapi.org