I’m going to do something about it and I need your help. I have registered for the Pan-Florida Challenge Cancer Ride and have committed to raising money to distribute nutritious cancer fighting food to hungry kids, to fund cancer prevention research, and to support cancer patients and their families.

Pan-Florida Challenge has long known that hunger greatly affects a child's performance and behavior in school. Studies also show that lack of nutrition or bad nutrition can drastically affect many aspects of health, including the risk of developing diseases like cancer. Pan-Florida Challenge recently expanded their mission to include cancer prevention so that even more people can be helped.

Consider these facts:

• According to the World Health Organization, maintaining a healthy diet and increasing physical activity is an important approach to cancer control.
• A cancer diagnosis can place undue financial burdens on patients and their families. Many patients and family care-givers need to alter their employment status, resulting in potential lost income and loss of insurance coverage.
• According to CancerCare, 70% of patients reported financial hardships because of cancer-related expenses. 50% of patients cut back on grocery expenses because they couldn't afford to buy food and pay for treatments.
• In just seven years, Pan-Florida Challenge has provided over seven million meals to hungry children, providing healthy buidling blocks for their future.

This March, I will join hundreds of other riders who are all committed to fighting cancer. I will endure physical pain so I can help those in our community who need it the most. Just $25 will provide nutritious cancer fighting foods to a hungry child for a month. $100 will pay the electric bill of a cancer patient who is struggling to make ends meet. Gifts of all sizes will support research and education at partner organizations including Moffitt Cancer Center, Cancer Alliance of Naples, and The Socks Charity. Whatever you can give will help - it all adds up!

We can fight this - together. I thank you, and thousands of people in need will thank you, too.