This Spring, Team LightHouse rode once again in Rotary Club of Napa’s annual Cycle for Sight bicycle event, which benefits our Enchanted Hills Camp. Close to 2500 participants rode singly and in tandem along one of three scenic 50-, 25-, and 15-mile courses that wind among the hills and vineyards of the Napa Valley, as well as enjoying the food and wine festival that followed the ride.
We want to express our immense gratitude to Rotary Club of Napa for choosing to support Enchanted Hills. This year’s Cycle for Sight ride resulted in a $30,000 contribution to camp. We want to honor and thank Justin Geissberger and his family who were responsible for raising $3000 of this total. In addition, we thank LightHouse Board member Margie Donovan for raising close to $2000 on her own to support camp. Gary Morris, who originally came to Cycle for Sight through his connection with Margie, has ridden in the event off and on for the last twenty years. He rode with Team LightHouse this year as pilot with Angel, one of the students from Santa Barbara County (see story below), as the stoker. He was excited to find that with Angel’s help, he broke his personal record for speed saying, “Let me tell you, this was the fastest I ever rode around the course.”
Santa Barbarans Join Team LightHouse
This year, Enchanted Hills Retreat played host to twelve young blind students from Santa Barbara County who partnered with their teachers and volunteers to ride tandem in Cycle for Sight as part of Team LightHouse. The group of young athletes arrived Thursday before the ride and stayed in our comfortable cabins for four days and three nights, experiencing what amounted to a mini-camp session. They enjoyed outdoor activities including boating, swimming, archery and beep-ball, while on Friday, LightHouse volunteer Jerry Edwards instructed the group on the finer points of riding a tandem. After a delicious carbohydrate-rich dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, Camp Director Tony Fletcher led the group in an Earth Day-themed discussion that included topics such as the role Enchanted Hills plays in providing a natural sanctuary for animals that might not thrive in other areas in Napa and how we incorporate energy conservation into the camp routine.
The group rode on Saturday and then came back to Enchanted Hills where they spent a restful night reflecting on the day’s accomplishments. For many students it was the very first time they had attempted such a long bicycle ride and we are so glad to have provided them the opportunity to do so.
