On a chilly morning and November, thirty people came together to raise awareness for homeless pets at Pima Animal Care Center. They were all riders in the first ever Ride with the PACC team for El Tour de Tucson.

The team brought together people of all ages and abilities to ride in the world-renowned El Tour de Tucson. Riders created individual fundraising pages and shared their own stories about why they chose to ride for homeless pets.

PACC volunteers Jerry Rosen and Ursula Schwarz founded the team to bring together their love of cycling and pets. They were lucky enough to get to share their stories with Tailwinds, one of Tucson’s premiere cycling publications. You can learn more about their inspiration to ride for PACC by watching the video below.

Steve Harris was a fairly new volunteer at PACC when he joined the Friends of PACC cycling team. On his fundraising page he wrote, “I’m riding in this year's El Tour de Tucson to support PACC. I've been volunteering at the shelter for several months and the work they do is simply amazing. To see the care they take with the animals will bring tears to your eyes. I've seen kids jumping for joy when they bring their new animal home. I’ve seen grown men reduced to tears when they come to the shelter and find their lost dog. If you know me you know I've had rescue cats all my life - this is my way of giving back. This year's tour will be hard. It climbs to Pistol Hill in the first 30 miles, but as I ride I'll be thinking of all the animals that you & I are helping.”

Riders raised critical funding for the hundreds of pets in need that call Pima Animal Care Center their temporary home. The team ended up raising more than double the initial fundraising goal of $5,000! All of these gifts will go to the pets at Pima Animal Care Center for lifesaving care including specialty medical treatments, training, foster and adoption programs, and more. We can’t wait for next year!

Join Next Year’s Team!

Would you like to receive updates on next year’s team? Email Román Urias at Roman@FriendsofPACC.org to get on the list.

We had to have a little fun along the way, too! Our friends at Evercover donated custom helmet sleeves to raise even more funds and awareness for the pets in our care at PACC. Thank you Evercover!