By: Community Magazine | March 3, 2021 | Local | Middletown
FEATURED PHOTO: Middletown resident Andrea Verdone Gorsegner, Founder/President of Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer Organization, rode her Peloton for 24 hours to raise funds for the foundation.
Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer Organization held a Peloton-themed virtual fundraiser in hopes of raising $25,000. Much to its delight, when the numbers were tallied the totals donated by riders and teams had raised $85,196. The money, in its entirety, will go to supporting children currently fighting cancer and to fund new pediatric cancer research.
On January 30th, more than 200 Peloton riders registered (AKA a $25 donation) to ride Peloton instructor Tunde Oyeneyin’s 9:30am 30 min live Hip Hop ride with Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer Organization founder/President Andrea Verdone Gorsegner and Vice President Jim McCaffrey. It was an awesome way to kick off the day, especially since Tunde gave the #InfiniteLove4Kids group a special shout out! Once that class was over, Andrea continued to ride her Peloton for an additional 23 consecutive hours via Peloton’s scenic rides. Then for her final 30 minutes of the 24-hour long ride, more than 50 Peloton riders rode with her through the virtual finish line via Peloton instructor Emma Lovewell’s 30 min Coldplay ride.
Similar to all non-profits, Infinite Love for Kids has felt the strain of the pandemic and its overall fundraising is down $300K from last year. This infusion of donations will go a long way to continue its efforts.
Research for childhood cancer is incredibly underfunded as it only receives 4% of the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) annual research budget. With 16 different major forms of childhood cancer (not including the hundreds of subtypes), four pennies to the dollar are a very small piece of the financial pie, leaving thousands of promising research grants unfunded. Infinite Love for Kids Fighting Cancer wants to continue fulfilling these grants therefore making it possible for researchers and doctors to discover less toxic treatments for children ultimately giving them new pieces to the cancer cure puzzle. For more information, visit infiniteloveforkidsfightingcancer.org.