Let's Ride! Team Trinity Embarks on Wish a Mile Bike Tour for Wish Kids
July 27, 2023
By: Rob Casalou
Categories: Children's Health, Community Health
At first light this morning, more than a dozen riders with Team Trinity colleagues and friends hit the road for the 36th annual Wish a Mile. Trinity Health Michigan President and CEO Rob Casalou shares the team's experiences leading up to the ride.
The Wish-A-Mile (WAM) is upon us and, once again, and Team Trinity is ready to roll early tomorrow (Friday) morning as we begin the three-day, 300-mile journey on our bikes to raise funds for Make-A-Wish Michigan to grant wishes to Michigan children battling critical illnesses. This will the Team Trinity’s 11th year and, thanks to the amazing generosity of so many people supporting our riders, Team Trinity has raised more than $83,000 for this year’s WAM. Thank you for all of you who supported us and the wish kids.
A few months ago, I wasn’t sure we would be riding in this event again. It was a year ago during WAM that two riders, Mike Salhaney and Ed Erickson, were tragically killed in a criminal act by a driver under the influence of drugs. Mike and Ed had a special love for our wish kids, and each had participated in WAM for several years. As the Make-A-Wish Michigan leadership and board --- along with input from riders and WAM team captains --- considered the future of the event, it was clear to us that Mike and Ed would want us to carry on with the event that has contributed so much to wishes over the years. We honor them and our wish kids by keeping WAM going, and that is exactly what we will do beginning tomorrow.
The route and logistics are new this year, and we will be beginning and ending our ride this year at the Eaton Proving Grounds in Marshall, Michigan. Our first day will take us to Holland after 106 miles of riding and 3,400 ft. of climbing, so we are getting the hard day right out the gate!
On Saturday, we will ride from Holland to Kalamazoo taking the “long” way, and then we ride from Kalamazoo back to Marshall on Sunday. Many of us drove to Marshall this evening (Thursday) so that we are close to the Eaton Proving Grounds and to give us time to prep our bikes and get organized for an early start in the morning.
Breakfast is at 5 a.m. at the proving grounds tomorrow morning with the course opening at 6 a.m. Close to 400 riders will be gathering in the morning but will leave at times of their choosing between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. Our 19 Team Trinity riders will be in that mix. For now, it’s time for us to hit the sack early because that 4:15 a.m. alarm will be ringing soon!
Please pray for the safety of all those who are participating in the ride, and please add strong tailwinds to that prayer too! �� Thank you again for your support and thanks again to our amazing team members that are saddling up this weekend.
God Bless,
Rob