The annual Cops for Kids ride came through the Boundary on Saturday, stopping at Deadwood Junction in Greenwood on the second day of their 10-day ride.
Peter Foodikoff was one of the riders. He said it was his first year on the ride. One of his best friends approached him and said, “Pete, you have 24 hours to decide if you are in or out.”
Foodikoff said, “I talked to my wife and within an hour I was in.” Each rider must raise a minimum of $2,000 for the privilege of going on the ride. Foodikoff said one rider had raised $20,000.
“All of the money raised goes towards children who need things that the typical medical system won’t cover,” Foodikoff explained. “For example, if a child needs a special wheelchair or a walker or a special tablet, or someone may just need extra money to go to Vancouver, Edmonton or Boston, it allows him or her to have those extra funds. They can come to us for a grant and help them with whatever they need.”
He said one of the hardest parts of the tour is meeting with the little ambassadors— the children who have received an item Cops for Kids has been able to purchase for them. “To see these guys come up and they are so happy because they got that thing. It is so hard—we get a lot of wet eyes when we are on the road because they want to meet us; they want to say thank you.”
There are 18 riders on the tour this year. Since Cops for Kids began 13 years ago, they have raised $2.7 million.
Foodikoff has a connection to the Boundary: his dad used to work in a mill in Greenwood and still lives in Grand Forks, and he said many of his Grand Forks relatives have been active in the Boundary Historical Society.
Along this year for the first time was the Subway “Commit to Fit” mobile gym. Event organizers Meghan Glover and Nadege Reimer came urging citizens to commit to regular exercise, healthier choices and a more balanced lifestyle by making great food and lifestyle choices and swapping old habits for fresh new approaches to wellness.
For every act of fitness that a person does, Subway will give $1 to kids’ sports.
“You can do fitness in so many ways,” Reimer said. “A lot of people think of fitness as going to the gym and working out for an hour. You can jump on an indo board and stand on that for 30 seconds or five minutes; you can do a couple of squats in your bedroom; there are so many different ways you can do exercise.” Deadwood Junction barista Bruce Jepsen
took the mayor’s place in the mock jail this year as Mayor Nipper Kettle had other events on his schedule.
Jepsen did a fine job playing the part of a man needing bail money to get out of the slammer. Any funds collected while at Deadwood Junction were given to the Cops for Kids.