Pan-Mass Challenge

On a separate note; 

Billy Starr is many things but he is most noted as the founder & director of North America's largest philanthropic charitable bike ride the Pan-Mass Challenge.  In light of recent news around the alleged  dubious management of other like kind organizations PMC can boast an impeccable record of accountability spanning 33 years. PMC donation numbers have scaled into the massive zone too. $338,000,000.00 NET to be exact. A big chunk of this has gone to the The Jimmy Fund accounting for 55% of JF's total donations.

I am remiss in telling you that I hadn't known of Billy Starr before meeting him yesterday in Boston and I feel a little guilty about that too because PMC is a big deal to the Cancer community. He started it 33 years ago from his parents basement with just 35 riders.  I think the rider total count today is a little north of 70,000.

Billy's passion is palpable.  As he tells it, there were two events in his life that were most instrumental in starting this mission.  Both occurred during his most formative teenage years. One was the passing of his mother to cancer within an 8 month period and the other was his serendipitous missing of a plane flight that ended up crashing and killing everyone on board. 

I liked Billy.  I got the sense that this is the same for most people. To know him is to like him.  He's a good humored, self-afacing and transparent person.  He's obviously a super hard worker but also a total jock and lives life with effusive passion.  

My favorite quotes from Billy yesterday were; "I suck at following but I'm okay leading",  "Aging isn't for pussies" and "lets ride together sometime."