Pan-Florida Challenge for Hungry Kids Event Benefits Feeding South Florida

Pan-Florida Challenge (PFC), a nonprofit corporation based in Naples announces The 2nd Annual Pan-Florida Challenge for Hungry Kids event, which will challenge 100 committed cyclists to cross Florida from Naples to Palm Beach on bike. The ride will encompass 160 miles over two days, Saturday, March 28 & Sunday, 29, with the big, bold goal of providing 250,000 meals to hungry kids.

The Pan-Florida Challenge for Hungry Kids event (PFC) provides meals to hungry children who do not know where they will find their next meal.

“We ride our bikes across Florida to be the voice of thousands of hungry children who worry every day about when and where they will eat,” said Ed Mullen, President & Co-Founder of the Pan-Florida Challenge. “Hunger in children is an epidemic right now here in Florida and in Haiti. With the help of our riders and sponsors, we are seeking a solution for this problem one meal at a time. It is something people of good physical fitness can do to promote their own health and have great fun while committing themselves to give invaluable help to others in need.”

According to Mullen, the Pan-Florida Challenge model is a sunny, tropical version of the Pan-Mass Challenge, which raised $41M last year with 5,500 cyclists crossing Massachusetts on bike. He has assembled a team of professionals to organize and shepherd participants across Florida from Naples to Palm Beach.

“One of the things PFC is most proud of is that our fantastic sponsors and the wonderful efforts of our volunteers has already put us near our goal of 100 percent of donations going towards feeding hungry children. That is a remarkable achievement,” said Mullen.

The ridership for the event is filling up quickly, though space remains.

“Riders wanted!” says Tish Kelly, Ride Director of the Pan-Florida Challenge, avid Naples cyclist, podium-topping racer, and bike safety advocate. “We are putting on a 5-star quality ride on for our 100 cyclists. Every mile of the 160 will be fully supported. Our riders will get the royal treatment for their athletic good deed. We are already 50% sold out, so if you want in, make sure to register soon at panfloridachallenge.org.”

Those who cannot ride are invited to participate by sponsoring riders. Donation and participation information is provided at the website listed below.

Child hunger in Florida is a major problem. 1.2 million children in South Florida suffer from food insecurity and do not know where their next meal is coming from.

In Haiti malnutrition in children is rampant; the #1 cause of death in Haitian youth. It is estimated 44 children under 5 die every hour from lack of food, from data collected by UNICEF and Children’s Hunger Relief fund.

“Ending Hunger in Kids – sounds like such an impossible goal. But when you take it one meal at a time. Its not! “-Jim Willey PFC Co-Founder. “We do this by working with nonprofit food distribution partner programs who have a solid track record of delivering quality meals to hungry children”.

Funds raised in the Pan-Florida Challenge event will be invested in proven effective and efficient meal feeding programs for children along the route of the ride from Naples to Palm Beach. Donor confidence stems from transparency and ROI reports tracking the number of meals fed to hungry children. PFC partner programs currently include Feeding South Florida’s backpack program – packed with 5 meals, this special backpack goes home with one hungry child Friday night from the Boys & Girls Club, to end hunger over the weekend while out of school. Help for Haiti ends hunger in kids feeding thousands of meals to students each year -500,000 in 4 years – efficiently and effectively with food from Feed My Starving Children.

The PFC Challenge goal is for 250,000 meals for hungry kids, thanks to the generous support of our sponsors including Title Sponsor Beacon Real Estate Partners. PFC has benefitted significantly from the generous support of sponsors across the Naples and Palm Beach business and rider communities as well as national corporations rallying behind feeding hungry kids including: Beacon Real Estate Partners (Lead Founding Sponsor), MHK Architecture and Planning, Domino’s, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Stradalli Cycles, GuidePoint, Exari, Cheffy Passidomo Attorneys at Law, Poli Mortgage, Farmer & Associates PLLC Attorneys at Law, CBiz Tofias, Bill Bone Bike Law, SeaSucker, Banyan Printing, City Place and the Downtown Development Authority of West Palm Beach, Capital Wealth Management, Naples Velo, Elévée Fine Clothing, Clive Daniels, DD’s Cupcake Shoppe, Keller Williams Realty and Race Doctor Pro Cycling Service.

“We are extremely grateful to have such a ground swelling of support from the rider communities and our sponsors on both coasts of Florida. We could not tackle feeding hungry kids hundreds of thousands of meals without each and every person who has gotten involved to join our efforts to end childhood hunger.” Says Maura Plante, Executive Director, Pan Florida Challenge.

Naples, FL based Pan-Florida Challenge (PFC) is a nonprofit corporation and the Pan-Florida Challenge for Hungry Kids event is an annual, two day, 160 mile bike ride across Florida from Naples to Palm Beach, held in March. Through our fundraising and partnerships, we provide meals to hungry children who do not know where their next meal is coming from. Our goal is for 100% of riders’ donations to go towards feeding hungry kids. Pan-Florida Challenge donations are tax deductible.

To Register to Ride: www.PanFloridaChallenge.org

To Donate, select a rider to sponsor or click on make a donation: http://panfloridachallenge.racepartner.com/Fundraising

Contact: Maura Plante, 561-400-2712, Maura@PanFloridaChallenge.org