Ride for Mental Health fundraiser helps African children
Journey through mental health crisis becomes a catalyst for change
WINNIPEG, MB—Thanks to a Manitoba man’s own mental anguish and recovery, children displaced by war in the Congo are getting a second chance.
More than $3,300 is going to help Mennonite Central Committee’s Displaced Children Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, raised during the third annual Ride for Mental Health this fall. The funds will help children displaced by war return to school and get back into loving communities.
More than 70 cyclists came together on September 7 at Birds Hill Provincial Park, North of Winnipeg, Manitoba, riding the 50 km, 25 km or 15 km routes, before celebrating with a BBQ at the end of the day. Organizer Wayne Siemens also took the chance to share his own story.
Siemens says it was his wish to raise money that would not just stay in Canada, but make a difference for children living in Africa.
The focus on mental health grew out of his own battle. After leaving work due to post-traumatic stress after years of working in the criminal justice system, Siemens needed a way to recover.
For Siemens, it was cycling. After building up his strength, he set a goal of cycling 50 kilometres around Bird’s Hill Park and just after completing it three years ago, he joked to friends saying he had finished the inaugural Wayne Siemens’ Ride for Mental Health.
But his challenge didn’t stay a joke. What started as a personal challenge and a humorous comment grew into something bigger as friends told him they wanted to ride with him the following year. And so the Ride for Mental Health was born, bringing together Siemens love of cycling, a commitment to acknowledge mental health struggles, and support of children in Africa living with chronic trauma and poverty.
“I’d never thought I’d do this in a million years,” Siemens says. “I never had any inclination.”
Yet the fundraiser was an answer to an old unanswered prayer. In 2011 he participated in a mission trip to Swaziland, Africa and witnessed first hand the effects of poverty. It was then he prayed for a way to help impoverished children in Africa, but God was seemingly silent.
“Two months came and went and nothing,” Siemens says. “So I let it go.”
Yet, after organizing the Ride for Mental Health last year, it hit Siemens, “God has given me a way to help kids.”
“God brought it all together, I didn’t think the plan would involve my own personal crisis,” Siemens says. “But it needed to take place for the impetus for this fundraiser.”
Siemens says he and the Ride for Mental Health board are already planning to work on next year’s event.
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