Cruise for Your Cause - April 15, 2012 Vancouver, BC

[thump911]

Cruise for Your Cause - April 15, 2012 Vancouver, BC

Howdy. First off, let me introduce myself for almost everyone who most likely does not know me. My name is Travis, I am 32 years young and I have lived in Metro Vancouver for the past 11 years...and I love anything with wheels! I have been a car buff since I hit the ground running, and haven't looked back since. I have been through almost every motorsport there is from dirt biking to 4x4'ing to hotrodding. I have been regularly involved in autocross for the past 3 1/2 years and anxiously await the start to another action packed season. I also currently have an ongoing project car being a 200hp VW Bug! You will always find me in my garage wrenching on something... if it isn't my own wheels, then on a friends. I appreciate all that is within the automotive world. I can attibute this affection to my beloved dad. He was also a car afficianado who circuit raced open wheel dirt track cars to 1/4 mile Willy's back in the day. Among his pride and joy was a '67 Mailbu SS. He was a stickler for details and always found time to help out a friend who was in need. After many, many years of fighting with numerous health issues, his body finally succumbed to the hardships in April 2011.

What I would like to do is have a memorial Cruise to remember my dad. I know there are many other people out there who have lost someone special or who may be currently struggling with any variety of issues, and would maybe like to keep the memory alive as well. I want to also provide an opportunity for anyone and everyone who may have a special or unique ride, to dust the cobwebs off and start off the driving season with a purpose and a chance at making a difference in someone else's life by doing something that we all personally enjoy....to drive!!

The purpose behind this cruise however is to showcase and highlight the many diverse and special needs that make up our community and needs abroad. There is no one organization that can save the world, as much as we all would love for that to happen. We all have a different story and I would like for all of us to share that story. I would like to offer up the opportunity for us as a car community, to show to everyone that we can, and will, support the needs of those around us by donating to a cause that you feel compelled to give to. That's right...you choose to support your cause. And then bring out your car, truck, bike or anything with a motor and wheels, and let's go for a cruise to share our stories and remember those special people around us.

The Cruise will be slated for April 15 so save the date, and pray for no rain!! The route is yet to be determined but will cover most of Metro Vancouver area, most likely starting in Maple Ridge, east to Mission, down through Abbotsford, across Langley/Surrey and ending up somewhere along the water in either White Rock, Richmond or Vancouver. Ideas are all welcomed and will all be considered.

Please visit Cruise for Your Cause to find out more information regarding this event and help someone who means something special to you by joining the Cruise!

"Like" us on Facebook as well and share your ideas, thoughts and who you are cruising for. Answer the poll question or just stop by to say "Hi".
Please post up this thread, join the wall on Facebook or send an email to info@cruiseforyourcause.org if you have any questions or need more information.

I look forward to hearing from you and hope that we can all join together to Cruise!

Thank you for your time.
Travis

[thump911]

So, it's now just under 2 months to go, which is still a LONG ways away, but I wanted to keep everyone up to date on what's going on. I also wanted to invite anyone and everyone to share an idea or a cause or a story of someone who had a special impact in your life that might just lead you to come on out for a drive on April 15 to support them!

My dad was an awesome guy (most dads are, right?). He always had time in his day, no matter how busy he was or how miserable he felt, to stop and have coffee and ask "How are you doing?". The countless days/months/years he spent in hospital always ended in the nurses wishing him well, only to see him back in the hospital a short time later with a new, unknown complication. He would always be quick to greet any new doctor that showed their face in his room with a sincere "How are you?". Having spent so much time visiting my dad in the hospital as a little tyke, it seemed as though the hospital was like a second home. Always wondering if dad would be home for Christmas, or around for our next birthday or heck, even around to catch the next Oilers game (yes, born and raised in Alberta! But the 'Nucks hold a very close second place in my heart!! ), Hope was one thing he never lost his grasp on. This is not meant to be a sob story or a woe-is-me rant, but a reason why I chose one my Charities to support to be the Hope Foundation of Alberta. The Hope Foundation of Alberta is a research centre affiliated with the University of Alberta dedicated to understanding and enhancing hope in individuals, families, and institutions. One thing for certain is that we all need Hope to perservere through our unique life struggles and this a Centre devoted to showing families and individuals in need that there is indeed a glimmer of Hope in all situations, no matter how gloom it may appear.

I would love to hear what you have to say. Who would you support? What cause means the world to you but have never had the chance to share about it? It doesn't matter the severity or complexity, I want this to be open to everyone.

Also, an update on a route. It's slowly coming together and I think that, with a few tweaks, it's a route I think I would enjoy driving. So far it is going to tally a little over 170kms with around 4 hours of driving time. There should hopefully be 3 if not 4 stops along the way to pick up any cars who wish to join, as well as lunch, coffee or washroom breaks. The start will most likely be in Burnaby, near or right at the Kidney Foundation headquarters (my other supported Charity! ) and travel through Vancouver/Richmond (stop 1), a cruise along the water in White Rock (stop 2), heading through Surrey/Langley (stop 3), continuing on to Abbottsford/Mission (stop 4), across the Hayward dam through Maple Ridge and then ending up in Coquitlam at LaFarge Lake. This seems to be a logical ending location as it is quite family friendly for anyone bringing a family along (I know I'll have my two kids joining me somewhere along the route) and still quite central for everyone to depart afterwards.

Please post up any stories or ideas to add as this is all just a work in progress. I want to keep this as casual as possible, yet keep it organized enough to make it enjoyable for everyone who may attend.

Thanks for reading and I hope to see/hear what you all have to say!
Cheers!

[civiccer]

why haven't people signed up for this yet?
I'm down. This will be a personal cause for me as well.

1. civiccer

[k3lv]

is this not the same day as the sun run?

[thump911]

Thanks for the interest Civiccer! I'd be looking forward to hearing your personal cause and who/what you would be supporting.

And to K3lv, yes it is unfortunately the same day as the Sun Run, but I still hope there will be some people willing to come out for a drive if they can't participate in the Run. I was refraining from hosting the Cruise the following weekend as that is the BC Custom Car Show in Abbottsford.

Anyhow, please keep posting and inquire about anything you want to see happen during this Cruise. This is going to be a casual, yet hopefully memorable experience for all involved and I want to hear everyone's ideas...this Cruise is for you!

[thump911]

I would like to make a quick note for everyone who might be reading this. I realize this Cruise is the same weekend as the Vancouver Sun Run so that may affect the numbers quite a lot. The goal for this Cruise is to raise awareness and show the diversity of the needs affecting our communities, as well as remembering those who have been affected. If your time has already been devoted to another occassion during this weekend, I commend you on the time spent with family/friends/garage floor and would not wish for anything different. I would, however, still like to hear your story on how your life has been influenced, and what your support would be directed to. The plan is then to post any and all organizations/foundations/charities/causes on my website to show how broad our community reaches in its support. And with enough interest this year, I hope to continue making this an annual event, even if it's just myself that goes for a drive every year around this time to remember my dad.
I look forward to hearing from some of you!
Cheers!

[thump911]

Alright, so there is about a month to go until Cruise day. Still waiting for some final confirmations but I have what should hopefully be a couple interesting Pitstops along the way. Hopefully there will be news to share about that in the next week or so.
There has also been a lot of positive interest and variety in supported foundations so far. I would like to continue hearing about the different ways you have been affected, but so far some of the foundations include:
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Kidney Disease
Muscular Dystrophy
Cancer
Leukemia
And I know that there are more people affected by a seemingly endless list so please let me know how your life, or someone close to you, has been affected.

[GloCivic]

I'll gladly join, my wife is fighting a rare form of kidney cancer (20 known cases)
will sign up on the website

[thump911]

Sorry to hear about your wifes' struggle. It's difficult standing on what seems like the sidelines. I hope the doctors can fight what they know about!

Exciting news regarding the Cruise however... ALL PITSTOPS ARE NOW CONFIRMED!!! The BC Kidney Foundation in Burnaby is the starting point. Since my Dad was a member of the Millet Fire Department, I have managed to get Richmond and Langley Fire Departments on board. Blackie Spit in Surrey/WhiteRock is our "scenic" stop. And I managed to get Mission Raceway to allow us the use of their location (sorry, no runs down the strip though!!). We will take a drive over Stave Falls in Mission but I don't plan to stop there now since the Cruise has grown in size...if anyone wishes to stop for a quick look, that is fine. And to finish it off, Coquitlam City has also allowed use of LaFarge Lake as the destination. I will have a detailed route posted by the end of the week once I do a couple "test drives". Almost April!! :-)

[thump911]

Well, the route is finalized and I think will be quite enjoyable to drive (I just drove it all yesterday to confirm it is as smooth as possible). The link is posted below. A fair warning to all those not fond of the "twisties"...the last section in Mission/Maple Ridge is full of them!!! ;-) The rest of the route has pretty much everything you could imagine in a Cruise, including highway to country-poke to waterfront! Here is the link to the Google Map which completely details the route. Most left turns that are required have a decent dedicated left turn signal to hopefully keep the group together. The only part I couldn't fix is when we depart Mission Raceway...for some reason Google doesn't think you can do a left turn on London Ave as you exit the raceway, but I confirmed yesterday that it is indeed possible. The times are fairly accurate on the maps but I noticed that we will probably shave a bit of time off through the last half of the Cruise. I drove the whole route through rushour traffic on a Wed afternoon and everything moved quite smoothly so I hope there will be no unforseen hiccups along the way. Cheery blossoms should be in full force as well! And it looks like I've bypassed downtown Vancouver enough to avoid the Sun Run...next year it won't be on the same weekend, trust me!!

Please post up with any questions on the route and I will do my best to inform. I'm really looking forward to it myself!!

Also, I would like to confirm who will be coming for the Cruise. Please post up your name and who/what you are Cruising for. I would like to keep track of how many different organizations are supported and then post up the final tally after the Cruise.

I would also like to suggest a food donation that will go towards the Friends in Need Foodbank in my hometown of Pitt Meadows.

Thank you for everyone who will be attending...I hope this will be the start of a memorable annual event.

Cheers.

4940 Canada Way, Burnaby, BC V5G 3T2 to Unknown road - Google Maps

[Lomac]

I'd love to come out and film the cruise itself and maybe get a few of you on camera talking about why you guys are doing this.

Or... if everyone is camera shy, I suppose I could just bring my car and tag along.

[thump911]

I'd be game for that. I'm still getting a feel for who's who on here so would that be for personal collection or would there be other connections with the final vid? Forgive me for my "noob-ness" in asking but it can't hurt, right?

Anyone is encouraged to come out and bring whatever you have...pictures, videos, daily-drivers or custom cruisers. Again, my only caveat is that you please donate to a foundation of your choice. And if you could please bring a foodbank donation, it will go to the Friends in Need Foodbank.

Thanks and can't wait to see who's going to show up in a couple weeks!

Post up for a pre-headcount if you can...

[Lomac]

It'd be for a non-profit purpose. Mainly just put a video together and share it with the car community at large.

[thump911]

That would be awesome...I'd love to see what you could put together. There is definantly the potential for some interesting cars to show up. Now I just need some good weather and a few more confirmations. Either way, I know I am going to enjoy the drive and I know my dad would have too!
Cheers!

[Lomac]

I'm in. Children's Hospital is my charity, for personal reasons.

[thump911]

Awesome, thanks for the support!

Here is the April 15 Itinerary

For those who want to meetup partway through the route and plan the rest of their day! I will be in Burnaby at the start location around 0930 so feel free to show up anytime after that. I am going to do my best to stay close to the schedule for those who are wanting to join up partway through the Cruise. These times should be fairly easy to maintain as I test-drove the route during rush-hour traffic on a Wed afternoon and had no problems keeping to what Google mentioned so these should work fine. So these departure times will be SHARP! If you happen to miss a departure, please either follow the route to the next Pitstop or join us as soon as you can.

A - 1000 - leave BC Kidney Foundation (Burnaby) to arrive at Richmond Fire Hall #4 around 1110

B - 1130 - leave Richmond Fire Hall #4 to arrive at Blackie Spit (White Rock) around 1210

C - 1230 - leave Blackie Spit to arrive at Langley Fire Hall around 1320

LUNCHBREAK

D - 1400 - leave Langley Fire Hall to arrive at Mission Raceway around 1450

E - 1515 - leave Mission Raceway to arrive LaFarge Lake (Coquitlam) around 1630

1630 onwards - linger around as long as you like at LaFarge Lake. There is a huge playground for the kids; obviously a lake nearby with paved trails; concession "might" be open as I do not know their operating hours at the moment; and of course, just hang out, check out the cars, chat with new aquintances and take pictures/videos of whatever you like!
2 weeks to go!!

[civiccer]

bump. more people gotta sign up for this!

[BlackHawk]

Im in champ, I will start a thread and spread the awareness also!!

[civiccer]

I'm going to be bringing a few cars with me.

[thump911]

Thanks a lot for all the support everyone! It's looking like the weather might actually hold off on the rain for us as well! I'm expecting a pretty decent turnout too. If everyone who has mentioned that they will attend, show up at some point on Sunday, we'll be edging very close to 30 cars if not more!!

I just want to make a quick note for anyone planning on starting at the Burnaby location...there is a couple entrances to the parking lot where we are meeting. If you hate speedbumps (like myself) then go just a bit further down Ledger ave, past a Union building parking lot, and there is another entrance to the Kidney Foundation parking lot with no speedbumps, west side of Ledger Ave. Either entrance you take, it will be on the NORTH side of the building. Sounds a bit confusing, but it's not bad once you get there. There will be a small tent/info booth for the Kidney Foundation set up in the parking lot and I will be driving my black Caliber SRT4 so come and find me. The parking lots will be empty aside from us so it will be easy to find.

If people are meeting partway through the Cruise, the rest of the locations are easy to navigate. The Langley City Firehall is doing training in their back lot so if there is not enough room in the front of the Hall, there will be an empty ICBC lot next door that we will utilize and a Tim Hortons right beside for lunch!

I will also have a bunch of water and some snacks for people to have throughout the Cruise. I will have maps and itineraries printed out as well if anyone doesn't bring one.

A thought that I had as well would be to bring out any hand held FRS 2-way radios so that we could maybe keep in touch during the Cruise if anyone was into that at all. I wouldn't expect any "need" for them, just an idea if someone wants to bring one along.

I'm really looking forward to Sunday...it should be nice and casual and lots of fun meeting new people and checking out all the cars!
Thanks again for all the support and we'll see you all on Sunday!
Cheers!
Travis

[civiccer]

Perhaps a few people should trade some numbers in case anyone gets left behind or lost?

[thump911]

My phone number will be on the info/map packet that I'll pass out at each Pitstop. If anyone else needs to exchange phone numbers, feel free. I guess that's another reason I thought of the FRS radios in case someone made a wrong turn or got left behind at a stop light. We'll all have the same map and itinerary and arrive at each Pitstop at roughly the same time. Thanks for the question though....if there are any more, please let me know!
Cheers!

[GloCivic]

I'll meet up with you guys at Mission Raceway, I'll be in the silver 2004 Intrepid R/T

[69five10]

Originally Posted by thump911

Awesome, thanks for the support!

Here is the April 15 Itinerary

For those who want to meetup partway through the route and plan the rest of their day! I will be in Burnaby at the start location around 0930 so feel free to show up anytime after that. I am going to do my best to stay close to the schedule for those who are wanting to join up partway through the Cruise. These times should be fairly easy to maintain as I test-drove the route during rush-hour traffic on a Wed afternoon and had no problems keeping to what Google mentioned so these should work fine. So these departure times will be SHARP! If you happen to miss a departure, please either follow the route to the next Pitstop or join us as soon as you can.

A - 1000 - leave BC Kidney Foundation (Burnaby) to arrive at Richmond Fire Hall #4 around 1110

B - 1130 - leave Richmond Fire Hall #4 to arrive at Blackie Spit (White Rock) around 1210

C - 1230 - leave Blackie Spit to arrive at Langley Fire Hall around 1320

LUNCHBREAK

D - 1400 - leave Langley Fire Hall to arrive at Mission Raceway around 1450

E - 1515 - leave Mission Raceway to arrive LaFarge Lake (Coquitlam) around 1630

1630 onwards - linger around as long as you like at LaFarge Lake. There is a huge playground for the kids; obviously a lake nearby with paved trails; concession "might" be open as I do not know their operating hours at the moment; and of course, just hang out, check out the cars, chat with new aquintances and take pictures/videos of whatever you like!
2 weeks to go!!

hey man, what langley fire hall is it? is it the one by the langley hospital near fraser and 222nd or the one on 248th near fraser

[thump911]

Langley CITY Hall, which is Logan ave & 203st. Should be there around 1:15pm til 2:00pm.
Thanks, and hope to see you there.
Cheers