Bicycle riders took advantage of a perfect day to help raise money for the Rally Point Youth Center. This is the 14th year for their Rally Point River Ride. Throughout Saturday morning participants rode anywhere between 10 to 62.5 miles through the park's trail and along Area road.
This is an event put on every year by Rally Point Youth Center, a faith-based organization that operates on the northside of Lima that helps mentor children and bring them closer to God. The students that have been a part of the youth center know firsthand how important the program is to them.
“I was in a space where I didn’t have many people in my life outside of my family that I could talk to and a lot of it was I had people around me at Rally Point that truly cared for me and showed me what family outside the family was,” says Trevon Manley, a former attendee of Rally Point. “People who cared for you that loved you, that wanted to hang out with you, to be there with you was one of the biggest things when I was growing up.”
“It's been a lighthouse in the north Lima community, reaching out to students to provide for them a safe place to be after school and providing them with help with their homework, very practical things, life skills, we do meals together,” adds Jared Diller, Ex. Dir. Rally Point Youth Center. “We have bible study groups that meet together. It has been year after year, a way of being a consistent place, where we can share the love of Jesus Christ with that community.”
Saturday's ride will raise around $20,000 for Rally Point to help continue their mission.
