A 12-year-old started Rachel’s Ride for Rwanda last year and this year the public can join in to help provide education in the African nation.

The second annual bike ride goes July 4 along the Fort to Fort Trail.

The ride benefits the Wellspring Foundation for Education, a group that works to provide education in Rwandan schools. (This is a different organization than the Langley-based Fibromyalgia Wellspring Foundation which helps people with the disease.)

Last year’s ride with Rachel Fitz and eight other young cyclists raised $5,600. The goal this year is $10,000.

“When we lived in Rwanda for three years, the children who walked by our house each day on their way to school had so little, and I wished there was something I could do to help them,” Rachel said. “When we moved back to Canada, I volunteered at Wellspring’s Lake2Lake bike race for adults to raise money for Rwandan schools. Then I thought, if adults can do this, why can’t kids?”

People can learn more and sign up at www.rachelsride.ca. The staging area is Derby Reach Regional Park.

Wellspring CEO Andy Harrington is impressed.

“To see young people raising funds for children who are just like them, but who don’t have some of the same advantages, is deeply meaningful,” he said. “I love the way that kids are being empowered, and the way in which they are not overlooked or ignored in the process. Kids count, they matter, and they can be world changers.”

Langley Advance