There is the old saying that neither rain, snow, sleet nor dark of night will keep the mail from being delivered. Well Friday morning Feb. 8 this held true for the Prairie Women on Snowmobiles as they started the last leg of their annual ride for breast cancer.
Here in Meota the fog had limited visibility to a couple of blocks, but the group of ladies riding their snow machines arrived at the Do Drop In around 10 a.m. to be welcomed by a large turnout of the residents of Meota and area. They were welcomed by a round of applause and plenty of doughnuts and coffee.
The PW0S have been making this ride since 2000 to raise awareness of early detection of breast cancer and to raise funds for research. To date they have raised well over $1 million and by their visibility have helped to raise the need for women to come forward and not be afraid of the stigmas that follow many such diseases. In doing so they have helped many survive by not being afraid to talk with medical professionals and thus catch their cancer at an early stage to facilitate treatment and survival.
The group this year is made up of 10 core riders who will travel about 1,800 kilometres during the ride with numerous others riding along on shorter sections of the trip in support. The support group who also travel the whole ride included a couple of ladies who look after the collection and depositing of donations and three fellows who are along to look after any repairs that might be needed to the machines. So far this year they have had a pretty incident free trip, which has made the run quite enjoyable.
While they were here John MacDonald the mayor of Meota, Lawrie Ward the president of the Meota Lakeshore Lions and Robert Iverson the president of the Meota seniors all availed themselves of the chance to present the group with donations to the cause.
Two of the riders gave an informative presentation on the mission of the group and presented one lady present with a survivor's pin on behalf of the group. All funds raised on this trek go straight to research without any administration costs. So hats off, to all who give so generously of their time, for such a worthy project that affects us all directly or indirectly.
