Trips for Kids celebrated its 20th Anniversary this past Saturday with a celebratory gala. The evening included a silent auction, a benefit dinner and a live auction. The event was by all means a success, with more than 200 guests attending, including Robin Williams and Gary Fisher. Items purchased in the auction included a new Maverick Matic bike, a weeklong Trek Travel cycling trip through Italy and a four-day Western Spirit-guided mountain bike trip in Utah.

All proceeds from the evening go directly to Trips for Kids—a program that leads disadvantaged youth on mountain bike rides. Over the past 20 years, more than 36,000 kids have participated in the program, and the organization has grown to encompass 58 chapters nationwide. The inspiration for the organization came to Marilyn Price while she was on a mountain bike ride in Marin County, California. Price was pedaling up Mount Tam, looking across the bay at San Francisco, thinking of all the disadvantaged kids confined to the city. Price created Trips for Kids to get these children out of the concrete jungle and away from the constant exposure to drugs and violence.

Marilyn Price still plays an integral role in the organization, operating as director. Price also operates a bicycle-based thrift store called the Re-Cyclery in San Rafael, which now funds 55-percent of the program’s costs.

From left to right: Patricia Gallery, Robin Williams, Marilyn Price and Richard Idell

Trips for Kids is an organization that’s making a tangible difference and Marilyn’s story is truly inspiring. To find out how to donate, volunteer or learn more, visit TripsforKids.org.

Caption: Gary Fisher and friends. The dinner setting. QBP’s director of advocacy, Gary Sjoquist addressing Marilyn Price. All photos by Jayson Lorenzen, unless otherwise noted.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 6th, 2007 at 1:46 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.