Ride For Runaways To Kick Off In Princeton On Saturday

PRINCETON, NJ — Around 35 riders will be coming together for an eight-day event to raise funds for homeless children.

The Anchor House Ride for Runaways will kick off Saturday, July 10, at 8 a.m. from Princeton Shopping Center. This year funds will be raised to benefit Anchor House. The ride will feature eight local routes totaling 500 miles in and around Mercer County through July 17.

Founded in 1978, Trenton-based Anchor House is a social services agency serving homeless, abused, and runaway youth and their families in the Mercer County area.

Routes for the eight-day event were selected by members of the Ride for Runaways Committee, said Kathy Drulis, Director of Operations for the Anchor House Foundation, which sponsors the events.

“We decided to start this year’s Ride in Princeton because several of our participants live or work there,” Drulis said. “Princeton has always been very supportive of the Ride For Runaways and the Princeton Shopping Center people have been very helpful in organizing our sendoff activities.”

In addition to the Princeton Shopping Center kickoff, other 60-mile routes will also depart from towns across Mercer County and surrounding areas. Each day’s ride begins at 8 a.m. Here are the details:

• Robbinsville, Mercer-Bucks Cardiology, July 11
• Allentown, Byron Johnson Park, July 12
• Titusville, Nelson House at Washington Crossing State Park, July 13
• Robbinsville, Community Park, July 14
• Bordentown Township, Northern Community Park, July 15;
• Allentown, Mark Harbourt Soccer Complex, July 16
• Lawrence Township, Rosedale Park, July 17.

This year’s fundraising program kicked off June 5 with a six-week, 100-mile walk, and a six-week, 500-mile bike ride. More than 100 riders will complete 500 miles in a six-week timeframe. The 100-mile walk saw 67 participants who are completing solo walks or joining in Anchor House-organized walks in Veterans Park in Hamilton, Mercer County Park in West Windsor, and on the Lawrence-Hopewell Trail.

“For our riders, this year’s hybrid event is just like the regular Anchor House Ride but without the bus trip and the hotel stays,” Ride Committee Co-Chair Laura Carlson said in a statement.

“This is the second year the pandemic disrupted our usual way of doing things and we’ve been able to adapt our ride to these changing circumstances while keeping our focus on our mission - raising money for the homeless, abused and runaway youth who come to Anchor House because they have nowhere to go.”

Ride Co-Chair DeWayne Tolbert hopes the event will build on the success of the 2020 ride, which raised more than $500,000.

“The Anchor House family really rallied to support our kids last year during the height of the pandemic and we’re hoping for a similar response this year when out of an abundance of caution we decided to keep the Ride local,” Tolbert said.

“These past two years have been special for us because we’ve been able to expand our participant base by extending the timeframe for completing the 500-mile ride and adding a walking event. We’re grateful to have such community support.”

For more information or to sponsor a rider, visit www.anchorhouseride.org.

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