History of the Ride for Rick

September 27, 2008 will mark the 5th Annual Ride for Rick and 5K Road Race in Woodbury, CT.  This year’s event again begins and ends at Mitchell Elementary School in Woodbury, after winding through the picturesque landscapes of Litchfield County.

Lisa Moisan, the coordinator of the event and widow of the late Rick Moisan, for whom the event is named, has an ambitious goal of $100,000 for this year’s event.  “Cancer has touched so many of us during our lives, and continues to be an ever-present reality for so many. The Ride for Rick has generated over $150,000 for local and regional charities in the past three years, but that only scratches the surface of what we need to conquer this disease, and what we want to do to continue Rick’s legacy.”

Rick Moisan was a successful architect, a loving husband and father, an Ironman athlete, and a strong believer in giving back to one’s community.  The first Ride for Rick, which took place while Rick was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments, was yet another example of Rick giving back, amidst his own struggle to stay alive.  All the money generated by that first event, as well as each year thereafter, has been donated to charities.

The proceeds from this year’s event will benefit CT Hospice, for its nursing fellowship fund; the Rick Moisan Memorial Scholarship Fund, which has to-date awarded over $50,000 in scholarship money to students interested in the fields of medicine and the arts; and several greater-Waterbury area families battling cancer and catastrophic illnesses.  Long-term, she also hopes to establish a foundation for lung cancer research, and to lobby for legislation that makes insurance coverage mandatory for simple early lung cancer detection techniques such as x-ray.