Sponsored by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children/New York (NCMEC/NY), the Finger Lakes Ride for Missing Children is a 100-mile ride made by bicycle riders or “Friends of Missing Children” that raises funds to support prevention education programs and to remember all missing children. More than 2,000 children are reported missing in the United States each day, some in our own community. For most families, this is only a brief scare as the child turns up in a few minutes or hours. But for some, the nightmare of a missing child becomes a grim reality. NCMEC’s mission is to help recover missing children, protect all children from sexual exploitation, and assist in the prevention of these crimes.

Funds raised by the Finger Lakes Ride for Missing Children remain in the local community to provide case assistance and spearhead prevention education services across upstate New York. During 2006 NCMEC/NY:
• Distributed 725,534 posters of missing children.
• Assisted in the recovery of 1,703 children through poster distribution and case
assistance.
• Distributed over 244,521 pieces of literature prevention education literature;
• Conducted 785 education programs with 63,655 participants.
• Coordinated 51 child-identification programs with 5,545 children and adults.

This is not a race….. We ride together as a Team – averaging 15-18 mph on the flat portion of the course escorted by members of the New York State Police, local police and sheriff’s departments. This means traffic is halted for the riders!. Our destinations along the route are designated schools where our arrival is the highlight of a safety education program that has been attended by the children of each school. Imagine the impression the riders make on the school children as they see over 100 bicycle riders, riding 2×2 escorted by several police cars with lights flashing and sirens blaring! The visits are electrifying as hundreds of children and adults cheer the riders as they enter the school grounds

For online registration/donations and additional information visit our website at: www.fingerlakesride.org