“This is an example of what is possible when people work together,” said Bill Starr, founder and executive director of the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, of Saturday’s $270 million check presentation to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute’s Jimmy Fund.
The 30th anniversary celebration for the fund-raising bike-a-thon was held at the House of Blues, where nearly 800 denim-clad cyclists and volunteers gathered to commemorate 30 years of riding and a total of $270 million raised for cancer research over the life of the Pan-Mass Challenge. This year’s fund-raising total topped $30 million, the third largest in the event’s history and the single largest contribution to the Jimmy Fund this year.
The event, produced by Rafanelli Events, was a thank-you to the riders, Starr said, and also provided stewardship for the group. The Pan-Mass Challenge hosts a check presentation event each year, typically of the smaller, more formal type, but this year’s was larger and dressed down. The $75 ticket included beer and wine served by House of Blues’ cocktail waitstaff, passed appetizers including beef skewers, quesadillas, and crab cakes, and an ice cream sundae bar.
The stage was set with eight vertical Pan-Mass Challenge banners and a screen that showed photos of past rides and events. While a Rafanelli-produced lineup of ’70s songs came early in the evening, after dinner the soundtrack gave way to live dance-friendly songs from the band Eye2Eye.
Next up was a rousing acrobatic performance by Status Quo—a Boston-based hip-hop troupe and runners-up on the first season of MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew—followed by the night's biggest highlight: Starr presented Dana-Farber president Dr. Edward Benz with an oversize $270 million check as riders, volunteers, and dancers crowded the stage, and waitstaff paraded out with 30 birthday cakes.
As for fund-raising in a recession, Starr said the group saw the same number of donors—nearly 5,000 cyclists from 36 states and eight countries—write slightly smaller checks. “Sure, the numbers went down a bit. But that’s like saying, ‘You won the gold medal, but you didn’t set a world record.’”
