Community

Volunteers raise money in Oysterponds Bike-A-Thon

PAUL SQUIRE PHOTO | Members of the Oysterponds Early Act Club ride around the track Sunday morining.
PAUL SQUIRE PHOTO | Members of the Oysterponds Early Act Club ride around the track Sunday morining.

An Oysterponds community service club raised more than $1,700 for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in a “Bike-A-Thon” in Peconic Sunday morning.

Student members of the Oysterponds Early Act Club, helped by members of the Greenport Rotary, set up the ride as a way to both raise money and teach children about bike safety.

Participants rode their bikes and scooters, ran and walked around the half-mile track at Cochran Park.

Heather Walker, who helped the students organize the ride, said the group was thinking of ways to raise funds for St. Jude’s and came up with the bike-a-thon to tie into Bike Safety Month in April. On Friday, Southold police officers spoke at an assembly at the Oysterponds school to teach the students about the importance of wearing helmets.

Ms. Walker said the students loved the idea.

“It just took off,” she said. “The kids got into [fundraising].”

The Bike-A-Thon kicked off at 10 a.m., and lasted until noon. Those who couldn’t make the ride can still help raise money for the children’s hospital by visiting www.stjude.org/specialevents