For the second year in a row, Southampton’s Luke Enright and Westhampton’s Liam Reynolds set out last week on a 10-day bike riding journey as a part of their fundraising campaign — P-Town for Parkinson’s. The two riders are raising money for Southampton’s non-profit organization, DopaFit, which specializes in Parkinson’s wellness.
Through exercise, primarily boxing, DopaFit helps slow the progression of Parkinson’s, a disease for which there is no cure. Reynolds’ grandfather Norm lives with Parkinson’s and is a member of DopaFit, which inspired Liam to begin the campaign.
“It has been so helpful for him,” Reynolds said. “It’s really important to my family and to a lot of other families as well. So many people have the disease and it’s just a great place. They do exercises that stop the progression of Parkinson’s, but it also really provides a community for everyone there for people who struggle through the same things.”
Liam will be accompanied by his grandfather, in addition to his parents and three younger sisters who will be driving beside him to support and spread encouragement along the way.
Over the last four years, Luke has ridden in several charity rides, including the Pan-Mass Challenge, a bike-a-thon that raises money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In combining that with his mom’s employment at DopaFit, Enright began to brainstorm how he could create his own charitable organization.
“I like raising money for charity and I still wanted to do that, but I wanted to effect something closer to me,” Enright said. “It was out of the blue. Liam and I wanted to do a very long ride and we both agreed that we should do this for a cause and then we both found that DopaFit was the cause that connected us together.”
Luke and Liam met in high school, where their passion for riding and helping charitable organizations brought them together to create P-Town for Parkinson’s.
“We weren’t really good friends but during the pandemic Liam texted me saying, “Hey I’m getting a bike this summer, we should start riding,’” Enright began. “Because I had been racing bikes for two years prior to that date and nobody else at the school, let alone my friends, raced bikes, I’m like, ‘sure let’s do it.’ And then when he got the bike we started riding together and we decided we wanted to do something big.”
Last year’s ride began in Westhampton, with the route running west for a 230-mile, 16-hour ride. This year, the two riders expanded their trip into a 10-day, 1,000-mile ride from Loubec, Maine, to Provincetown. This expansion came with a few more months of preparation, as the process began back in September, rather than a two-week period prior to last year’s ride.
This preparation consisted of creating a new website which allows for easier access to donations, but also provides a platform that offers a cleaner way to read through their story. It also helps spread the word about their cause and why it is so important. The website also includes T-shirts, sweatshirts and raffles, in addition to standard donations, where proceeds will go directly into funding DopaFit.
Last year, the coronavirus pandemic limited their ability to expand their fundraising into the community and hold events. Despite continuing in the same trend this time around, as states begin to return to normalcy this summer, they hope to begin including more community members at in-person events sometime in the near future.
“We were thinking of throwing a party during a rest day in Western Mass. but there is too much uncertainty during the pandemic,” Reynolds said. “It would’ve been a great fundraising opportunity and a fun thing for everyone to be a part of.”
In hearing their story, they hope there is more change in the foreseeable future, for the better of their community and those who need it most.
“I hope when people read the story, they see how much DopaFit means to people like me and Liam but also the people that go there because DopaFit really is a second chance for them to extend their life,” Enright said. “Most people didn’t know Dopafit was a thing until something like this gets to them. There’s somebody up in the middle of nowhere, with no service, who gets the newspaper, and they learn about DopaFit and it changes their life for the better and so I really hope people reading this article can help support our cause and raise money to keep DopaFit expanding and help more people live better lives.”
More more information, visit their website (ptownforparkinsons.com).