This May, a group of bicyclists from across New York state will set off on a 350-mile, cross state journey to raise awareness and support for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). The four-day ride will take place in conjunction with National Missing Children’s Day on May 25 and will serve as a pre-event to NCMEC’s “Miles for Hope,” a month-long awareness and fundraising mission to benefit NCMEC taking place later this fall.
The cross-state ride will begin in Buffalo on Sunday, May 23, and conclude in Albany on Wednesday, May 26. Chili Town Councilman Michael Slattery will be among the group of riders. “This ride is taking place because we are unable to hold our annual 100-mile bicycle rides in Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, Utica, and Albany where hundreds of riders would ride by and/or stop at over 25 schools across the various cities and counties, all in one day,” Slattery said. “Each city would hold their event on a different day and there would be riders traveling to the other cities to participate in each city. It really is an awesome and motivational event.”
While this year’s ride will have a different format, it will be just as meaningful. As they travel, the riders will be making tribute stops along the way – honoring missing children, their families, and first responders who work closely with NCMEC.
“One that is special to me will be the one in Chili at Davis Park where there is a memorial for Brittanee Drexel who went missing in 2009,” Slattery said. The tribute to Brittanee will take place on May 23 with the riders arriving on site at approximately 4:30 p.m. “Brittanee’s family will be there as well as the community, law enforcement, first responders, elected officials, and Chili Soccer for whom Brittanee played.” Ed Suk, Executive Director of NCMEC-NY and Chad Drexel, Brittanee’s father, will speak at the memorial.
Registration is currently open for Miles for Hope, which will take place September 1 through 30, 2021. Last year, over 1,400 people from 48 states participated in the event. The open format allows people to participate in their own way – whether they choose to bike, run, walk or swim, anyone can join in and make a difference in the fight to keep children safer from abduction, abuse, and exploitation. To register, visit www.missingkids.org/milesforhope.
Since 1984, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® has served as the leading private, nonprofit organization helping to find missing children, reduce child sexual exploitation and prevent future victimization. During the last 36 years, NCMEC’s national toll-free hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST® (1-800-843-5678), has received more than 5 million calls. NCMEC has circulated billions of photos of missing children, assisted law enforcement in the recovery of more than 348,000 missing children and facilitated training for more than 379,000 law enforcement, criminal/juvenile justice and healthcare professionals.
NCMEC also operates the CyberTipline®, a mechanism for reporting suspected child sexual exploitation, which has received more than 86 million reports since it was created in 1998. To learn more about NCMEC, visit missingkids.org.
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