By Kevin Glackin-Coley
The 8th Annual Wheels to Meals bike ride, the signature fundraising event for the St. Leo Food Connection, will be held on Saturday, June 22, 2013. Cyclists can choose from 10, 20, 32, 45, 56 and 75 mile routes through the Puyallup Valley and surrounding area. All rides start and end at WSU’s Puyallup Campus (7612 Pioneer Way East), which will also be the site of a Finish Line Festival including live music, food and a beer/wine/root beer float garden. Riders are asked to raise a minimum of $100, with incentive prizes available to those who raise more than $250. There will be bike mechanics from Old Town Bicycle and Tacoma Bike, numerous rest stops along the routes, and SAG Wagons will be available to assist any stranded cyclists.
Riders can ride individually or as part of a team with family, friends and co-workers. Team members can ride different routes since they all start and end at the WSU Puyallup Campus, and can then celebrate together their efforts to “fight hunger from the seat of their bike” at the Finish Line Festival
The St. Leo Food Connection operates the St. Leo Food Bank, the Springbrook Mobile Food Bank, a Backpack Project that provides two days worth of food every Friday during the school year to more than 600 students at Tacoma and Clover Park Schools who are at-risk of going hungry over the weekend, Summer Meals sites that serve lunch to more than 700 children on weekdays throughout the summer, and provides After-School Snacks to children in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood.