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Team of 25 Fraser Valley cyclists peddle in support of Africa grandmothers

Third annual Solidarity Cycle travels from White Rock to Yarrow on Sept. 8
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Jean Douglas-Webb of Abbotsford is among 25 cyclists participating in the third annual Solidarity Cycle on Sept. 9 to raise money for the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign.

A team of 25 Lower Mainland cyclists is hoping to raise $45,000 in September in support of African women who are raising their grandchildren orphaned by the AIDS crisis.

The women are participating in the third annual Solidarity Cycle, a fundraiser for the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign.

The event takes place Sunday, Sept. 8, with participants choosing one of three routes – 100 kilometres from White Rock to Yarrow, 100 kilometres from Yarrow to Aldergrove and back to Yarrow, or 50 kilometres from Aldergrove to Yarrow.

Participants in the Yarrow start will have a rest stop in Abbotsford at Birchwood Dairy (1154 Fadden Rd.) between 10 and 11 a.m., and all cyclists will make a stop there between 1 and 2:30 p.m.

Among the cyclists is Jean Douglas-Webb, who belongs to the Abbotsford Gogos (the Zulu word for “grandmothers), one of 250 volunteer groups across Canada who raise money for the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign.

Douglas-Webb participated in last year’s event, choosing the route that travelled from White Rock to Yarrow. The 2018 Solidarity Cycle raised $35,000.

Five of the grandmothers groups are represented in this year’s event.

In the past 30 years, 30 million people in Africa have died of AIDS, and 14 million children have been orphaned.

Visit solidaritycycle.weebly.com for more information or to make a donation.

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Vikki Hopes

About the Author: Vikki Hopes

I have been a journalist for almost 40 years, and have been at the Abbotsford News since 1991.
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