NEW YORK –NHL alumnus Steve Webb and Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Pat LaFontaine began a 550-mile bike ride this morning from the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto in route to the NHL Powered by Reebok Store in New York City in support of their respective charitable efforts, the W20 Foundation and the Companions in Courage Foundation. Both are expected to complete their historic ride on Wednesday, September 21 at 12:00 p.m. ET with a special celebration at the NHL Powered by Reebok Store in midtown Manhattan.
“The NHL is proud to support these two hockey legends as they embark on this epic charitable ride. On behalf of the NHL family we proudly salute Pat and Steve, and wish them the best of luck” said Ken Martin, Jr., NHL Vice President of Community Affairs.
LaFontaine’s Companions in Courage Foundation is an official philanthropic partner of the National Hockey League (NHL) and helps to create “Lion’s Den/NHL Legacy Classrooms” featuring Cisco System’s online conferencing system, WebEx, which allows young patients to connect to family, friends, schools and teachers anywhere in the world during a hospital stay.
The Foundation has now opened 12 Lion’s Den rooms throughout North America, including two with the NHL in Boston, Calgary and Montreal. The NHL unveiled the first fully functional “NHL Legacy Classroom” at North Carolina Children’s Hospital to commemorate the 2011 NHL All-Star Weekend. Plans for an “NHL Legacy Classroom” in Pittsburgh were unveiled during the 2011 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic to commemorate the outdoor game.
Webb’s W20 Foundation provides young student ice hockey players with partial academic scholarships to continue the pursuit of their hockey dreams. Now the organization also highlights athletes as influential agents of change and creates opportunities for athletes to give back in their communities. Webb will also commit a portion of the ride’s proceeds to fund Alzheimer and dementia research in Ontario.
The riders will be joined by a support team that includes Graham Fraser, founder of Centurion Cycling, host of North America’s premier series of distance bicycling events.
For more information on how you can support this please visit www.CiC16.org or www.w20Foundation.org . To follow the progress of the ride, fans are encouraged to visit www.W20Foundation.blogspot.com .
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