Why I PMC - LOVE BIKES. HATE CANCER. $20 at a time.

Guest Blog by Meghan McSheffrey

2015 will mark the 10th PMC for Team Bikes Fight Cancer.  Jon Jasak, Johnny Morin and Mike Swiatlowski grew up together in Palmer Mass, about 12 miles from the Sturbridge PMC start.   

In 2006, Jon was 27 and celebrating 5 years cancer free after battling Neuro- Blastoma.  Johnny  was 23 that year, and his father had just passed away after a long battle with cancer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Mike, 27, had been there for both his friends’ journeys.  They wanted to give back to the cancer community, Dana-Farber and all the people affected by cancer, and they started Team Palmer Pedal Power and joined their first PMC.   That first year they raised $11,072 and they did it almost $20 at a time.  

They had no idea what they were getting into…both from the ride and the fundraising.  Ten years later and they are still riding, still passionate about the PMC and have raised more than $195,000.   Over the years they have had various friends and family cycle through the team, but the 3 men are still the team’s driving force.  In 2009, in an effort to raise more money, the team designed and sold shirts that read "BIKES FIGHT CANCER" with an ironic (and now iconic) image of a vintage boxer on a vintage bicycle. The title was so well received that the team officially changed it's name two years later as the group began to grow. 

They have become more than a PMC cycling team, they are a grassroots fundraising machine. What they accomplish is truly a team effort.  The team has a letter stuffing night and they mail out over 500 requests for PMC donations to local businesses, friends and family.  Every year the letters come trickling back with $10, $20 and $50 donations.  They have team members who make cake pops and sell them for Valentine’s Day and Saint Patrick’s day for $2 each.   And they have generated thousands of dollars in t-shirt and poster sales on Friday night at the Host Hotel in Sturbridge.  If you are a PMC rider, you most likely have one of their inspired “Bikes Fight Cancer” designs.  And it is a family affair, Johnny’s mom, Beverley makes a PMC quilt that brings in more than $500 each year!   

In their 10 years, they have never received a individual donation larger than $500 and have truly raised close to $200,000, $20 at a time.