Benefield: GranFondo cycling ride spreads charity far and wide

Mike Dienhart made a woman cry.

He had gone to a community event in his hometown of Park Ridge, Illinois, when he saw the director of the Maine Community Youth Assistance Association sitting at an information table. She was handing out pamphlets but also likely looking for potential donors.

Dienhart approached and introduced himself. He told her that he would be taking part in Levi's GranFondo in Sonoma County this weekend and using it as a fundraiser for her non-profit group that works to keep teens drug- and alcohol-free. He told her he had already raised $3,000.

“She started crying,” he said. “She said, ‘We're year to year ... everything we get in, we put out.'”

That woman had better grab some more tissues, because Dienhart's fundraising has topped $4,000.

Dienhart will be on his bike Saturday, grinding out more than 100 miles of some of the most beautiful and challenging roads in Sonoma County, knowing that he's used the ride as leverage to raise funds for kids in challenging circumstances in own neighborhood.

That's the magic combination that organizers of Levi's GranFondo were looking for, something they said has been missing in the successful mass-start ride that was launched in 2009 by namesake professional rider and Santa Rosa resident Levi Leipheimer.

For the first time in the ride's eight years, participants this time around are encouraged to raise money for charities of their choice so long as they are registered non-profits and address the needs of at-risk youth. Longtime fondo beneficiaries like Forget Me Not Farm, as well as new adds Social Advocates for Youth and B-Rad Foundation, will still be supported by fundraisers such as Thursday night's Festa Del Fondo. In seven years, the festa dinner and auction has raised more than $300,000, according to organizers.

But unleashing riders who don't attend the dinner or auction to target charities close to their hearts seemed like a better way to get people excited about both riding and giving, said Carlos Perez, founder of Bike Monkey, which owns and runs Levi's GranFondo in partnership with Leipheimer. Perez is also the vice president of the King Ridge Foundation.

“We feel like we can have a bigger impact. It's about relevance,” he said.

“If people come and do the ride and they are coming from all over the country, there is less of a connection to them when they hear ‘Forget Me Not Farm,' than if they hear ‘at-risk youth,'” he said.

Think The Human Race - an extraordinarily successful running race that is held in Santa Rosa each May and allows participants to raise money for everything from school marching bands to the March of Dimes.

Dienhart, who was raising money early in 2016 for Sonoma County charities, said interest and contributions doubled when the rules changed and he could donate to an organization in his area.

“People could see money coming back to where we live,” he said.

“I've done cancer rides and multiple-sclerosis rides,” he said. “You are always riding for someone else's cause, which I'm happy to do. But this one changed for me in that I get to raise money for my cause.”

In part, it's a way to get more fundraising bang for the buck.

Ridership in the fondo is down. After a peak of 7,500 riders, this year's ride is expected to draw 5,000.

Multiple factors are likely at play.

When Leipheimer and Perez launched the fondo, it was relatively unique. Now there are scores of these rides taking place every year. It's affected the market. Jens Voigt, arguably one of the more popular riders in the peloton when he rode professionally alongside Leipheimer, hosted a fondo in Marin County last weekend.

“It definitely challenges the market, but that's business,” Perez said.

So organizers have upped the number of route options to 12. Friends and family can cruise eight easy miles or diehards can tackle the 116-mile route.

Logistically, the smaller number is clearly more manageable.

“We were bursting at the seams” at 7,500 riders, Perez said.

And he is quick to point out that even at 33 percent fewer riders, the raw amount of giving is up. Perez hopes that given freedom to choose their charity, more riders will pitch in.

“You can grasp that whatever town you are in that there are kids that need our help in that community,” he said. “We are interested in funding smaller organizations that can do real heart-and-soul work in their community.”

While Forget Me Not Farm, an operation on three acres of the Sonoma County Humane Society property on Highway 12, has been a primary beneficiary over the years, director Carol Rathmann said she has faith that even with the changes, her program of connecting at-risk kids with animal care and responsibility will continue to benefit from the fondo.

“I do feel confident. They have assured me. The bottom line for them is that eventually it will be more money for us. It's possible it won't be this year, but I don't know,” she said. “I definitely believe in them and trust them because they have been our biggest supporter for a long time.”

Ken Menklei is on board. The fondo regular flew out from his home in Wellesley, Massachusetts, but he's leaving his fundraising haul in Sonoma County. Minklei is the top fundraiser at the fondo this year, with more than $11,000. Despite the doors being open to charities in his neck of the woods, he was inspired to raise money for fondo-appointed favorites Forget Me Not, Social Advocates for Youth and B-Rad Foundation.

“What I would want someone else to do for my children, if they are having a difficult time and didn't have a place to live, I'd hope that a place like Social Advocates for Youth existed,” he said. “It's pretty moving. It's tough to go there and see hurdles that a lot of these kids have overcome.”

It's OK to remember that while it's hard to ride a bike 116 miles over some of Sonoma County's toughest climbs, there are some things that are harder still.

You can reach staff columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com, on Twitter @benefield and on Instagram at kerry.benefield. Podcasting on iTunes: “Overtime with Kerry Benefield.”