Ryan Boisvert
Special to Niagara Now

This Saturday’s Pedal Pushers Challenge fundraising ride for palliative care is named in honour of Niagara-on-the-Lake developer Rainer Hummel.

Bonnie Bagnulo, executive director of NOTL Community Palliative Care, said the agency decided to honour Hummel due to his continuous support for end-of-life care.

“We were so incredibly grateful to the community and grateful for Mr. Hummel that we decided to call the ride the Hummel Family Healing Cycle Ride because he offered to again match donations up to $25,000 this year,” she said in an interview.

His donation matching helped raise $60,000 last year.

“We’d like to beat last year’s total if we could,” she said. “We’ve got quite a ways to go.”

So far almost $39,000 has been raised, including Hummel’s matching donation, putting the campaign more than halfway to its goal.

The money contributed this year will be used for a new program starting at the hospice, called Ben’s Compassionate Community, to honour Ben Buholtz, who is recovering from a stroke suffered last year.

The program will aid people with life-changing limitations in the NOTL community. 

“The funds are going to help us staff this program and help us with the administrative support that’s needed for this new program,” Bagnulo said. 

She is inviting the entire town to get involved and hopes many people will come out to participate in the Healing Cycle ride. 

“Pretty much any donation helps the service and they can ride along with us,” she said. 

The ride begins at the former hospital site in Old Town on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 9 a.m. 

Direct donations to the Pedal Pushers can be made at https://thehealingcycle.crowdchange.ca/42588.