Sammie Janik, Author at The Ride For Roswell

Get the New Ride for Roswell Fundraising App

Posted on January 4, 2022May 8, 2023 by Sammie Janik

Fundraising for the Ride just got a little bit easier with our official Ride for Roswell Fundraising App!

There are so many cool features that allow you to quickly and efficiently access your fundraising dashboard and communicate with donors. With this new app, you can:

Monitor your fundraising progress
Share your page using social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) or SMS
View and manage your donations
Update your page with a personalized story and photo
Connect with Facebook and start a Facebook Fundraiser
Send emails easily by importing your contacts list with just one click

Want to see a tutorial of all these features? Keep scrolling!

The app is available for both Apple and Android devices. It’s easy to get started – here’s how:

Visit either the App Store or Google Play Store
Download Ride for Roswell Fundraising
Once download is complete, log in with your Ride username and password you used at registration

Ride for Roswell Fundraising App Capabilities

So what can you do with the Ride for Roswell Fundraising app? A lot! There’s so much to explore and utilize, including The 2021 Ride For Roswell Leaderboard, your fundraising progress, thanking donors and more. Take a tour of the app below to help your fundraising even more!

Monitor Your Fundraising Progress

The very first thing you see when you launch the app is your fundraising progress. Here, you can keep track of how close you are to meeting (and exceeding!) your goal. You can also update your goal directly through the app. Click Edit next to your goal on the right hand side of your progress wheel.

If you’re on a team, you’ll also be able to see your team’s progress. If you’re a team captain, you’ll be able to edit your team, make someone a team captain and adjust the team goal.

Share Your Page

Now that you’ve made the commitment to be a fundraiser, it’s time to spread the word to bring in those donations. The Ride for Roswell Fundraising app makes it incredibly easy to share your fundraiser on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, email and SMS. You can share your fundraising from three different pages:

Home (right under your fundraising progress)
Donors
Page (under your link)

View and Manage Your Donations

Keep track of your donations all under the Donors tab. You can see who’s donated to your efforts and how much they gave. You’ll be able to thank them right through the app, too.

Additionally, you can opt to be notified via email when you receive a donation! This is a great option to make sure you never miss a chance to say thank you to a donor.

Update Your Personalized Page

Say goodbye to changing your image and story only on a desktop or laptop. Now, you can do both right through the app! To change your image, you can upload a picture directly from your camera roll or a take a picture using the app. Don’t forget to update your story, too! Showcasing why the Ride for Roswell matters to you will help donors understand how important this cause is to you. If you’re a Team Captain, you’ll be able to edit your team’s page, too.

Once you’re information is all updated, you can customize your Ride fundraising link and view your page.

Integrate with Facebook to start a Facebook Fundraiser

If you haven’t connected your fundraiser to Facebook, do not worry! Now, you’re able to integrate with Facebook through the app. Head to the home screen and scroll down to the “Fundraise on Facebook” section. Follow the prompts and voilà – another touch point for donations! You’re online fundraising dashboard will now be integrated with Facebook and you’ll be able to receive donations through the social media platform.

If you’ve already connected your fundraiser to Facebook, this section will reflect that!

Send Emails Easily to Your Contacts

Have contacts on your phone you’d like to email about the Ride? The app automatically syncs with your address book. Whether you’re asking for donations, thanking donors or recruiting team members, go over to the Email tab to send updates to your contacts.

The Ride for Roswell Fundraising app make it easy for you to meet and exceed your fundraising goals. Download it today to get started! If you have questions, please feel free to email us at rideforroswell@roswellpark.org or give us a call at 716-THE-RIDE (716-843-7433).

Everything you need to know about packet pickup

Posted on July 20, 2021May 8, 2023 by Sammie Janik

Can you believe it’s almost Ride Weekend?! We cannot wait to gather with our community and ride to end cancer. Whether you’re riding with us on August 7 or riding your own way, come to out to Packet Pickup to collect all the things you need to ride and more, including:

Your rider bib: if you are riding with us, you need your bib in order to participate.
Rider rewards: please note – rider rewards will not be available at all locations on Saturday. They will only be available for pickup at UB.
A tribute card: let us know who you’re riding in honor or memory of this year.

Due to recent changes in local guidelines, masks will be required when possible while on UB’s campus on Thursday and Friday, including Packet Pickup and Celebration of Hope. It may be removed when riding, eating and drinking. Please bring a mask with you or the Ride team will have masks when you arrive.

You will also be able to:

Purchase amazing 2021 Ride merchandise
Enjoy giveaways, courtesy of our incredible sponsors
Snap a photo at our selfie station
Get your Extra Mile Club portrait

You can head to the University at Buffalo’s North Campus during these dates and times for Packet Pickup:

Thursday, August 5, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Friday, August 6, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Getting There

When you arrive, park in either the Slee or Baird parking lots off Coventry Road, and then go to the Alumni Arena lobby.

Riders are encouraged to continue their fundraising until August 31 to earn as many rewards as possible!

3 reasons why Facebook fundraisers are game changers

Posted on July 8, 2021May 8, 2023 by Sammie Janik

Many of us know that living in the digital age has changed nearly everything. We can now connect with friends near and far at the click of a button. Facebook has played a huge part in keeping us connected with the ones we love, from sharing major life updates and photos from our most recent vacations to raising awareness about causes near and dear to our hearts. Fundraising has been positively impacted by the ease of Facebook.

Anyone who signs up to participate in the Ride for Roswell has the option to connect their online fundraising dashboard with Facebook. And it has quite the impact! So what is it about this integration that helps so much? Here are three benefits.

Simplicity

Not only is setting up the integration easy, but donating on Facebook is also incredibly effortless. People can make a donation to your mission without ever leaving the social media site.

Easily spread the word

One of the best parts about utilizing Facebook is that you can easily spread the word to your entire network. Think about your Facebook friends – family, people you went to school with, colleagues, teachers and more. You’ll be able to tell them why you’re riding without needing their phone number or email address.

Additionally, Facebook fundraisers are public, so anyone on the app can find your fundraiser, be inspired by your reason for riding and donate to support you! You never know who you might get a donation from.

Create more impact

You are riding because you want to make an impact in the lives of cancer patients, right? Well Facebook can help you make an even bigger impact. Riders who fundraise using Facebook raise, on average, more than $500 in comparison with riders who do not.

So, what are you waiting for? Connect your online dashboard with Facebook and raise more funds for patients at Roswell Park.

Get Involved: 2021 Volunteer Positions

Posted on June 25, 2021May 8, 2023 by Sammie Janik

The Ride For Roswell wouldn’t be possible without the thousands of volunteers whose passion and dedication help make our event possible. We’re currently looking for 2021 volunteers to join us for Ride weekend and we’d love to see you there.

There are four crucial volunteers positions that need to be filled. See which option is the right fit for you!

Route Guides

Route guides stand along the routes and direct riders at turns and intersections. This is a great position to grab a friend, stand by the action and cheer on our riders. Guides are placed throughout all routes, so it will be easy to find a location that works best for you. Shifts run 3 to 4 hours from early morning until early afternoon. Sign up for as many or as little shifts you’d like.

Packet Pick Up

Packet Pick Up volunteers help riders get all the things they need for Ride Day, including checking in, bibs, rewards and more. Shifts will be on Thursday, August 5 and Friday, August 6.

Parking and Traffic

Help direct the flow of traffic to designated parking areas and get riders in and out of cars quickly and efficiently. This volunteer position is vital to keep the event running on time, as well as preventing minor and major accidents.

Photographers

Document the Ride and capture riders, volunteers, rest stops, sponsors and more across four locations. Your images could be used on the Ride’s promotional materials, the website and social media platforms. Photographers must bring your own camera, have access to editing software and be able to upload pictures via Dropbox, Google Drive or WeTransfer.

All of our volunteer shifts can be scheduled based on your availability. If you are interested in volunteering, please sign up here or contact our Senior Volunteer and Operations Coordinator Dawn Hu at Dawn.Hu@RoswellPark.org.

Taking on the Ride for the first time – Annie’s story

Posted on April 23, 2021May 8, 2023 by Sammie Janik

Meet Annie.

She’s a mother of three young children, a cancer patient and a first-time Ride for Roswell participant.

Being diagnosed with breast cancer in the beginning of 2020 was one of the most difficult things her family has ever been through.

“It has literally been one of the worst years of my family’s life. I was 40 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I have 3 little kids… ages 4,6 and 8. I was diagnosed a month after the world shut down. Talk about going from a pandemic into cancer! Which, as crazy as it sounds, was an absolutely perfect time to be diagnosed. I was able to get into appointments quickly. I was diagnosed and within a week I had an appointment at Roswell.”

After her diagnosis, Annie’s whole family rallied together to support her through her treatment at Roswell Park. They decided that participating in the 2021 Ride for Roswell was a fun and easy opportunity for everyone to get together and make a difference.

“We really knew that this was something my family and friends wanted to do to support Roswell. Roswell literally saved my life.”

Why she's riding in 2021

The Ride will mean more to Annie this year than ever before.

“I’m actually not even done with treatment yet. I am still going through some treatment. It is kind of perfect timing. I have 8 cycles of an oral chemo drug, and my 8th cycle finishes the week before the Ride for Roswell! It’s going to be a big celebration… I get emotional just thinking about it.”

Annie will ride through the finish line for herself and all those affected by cancer.

“The thought goes into your head as a parent, ‘oh my gosh … what is the likelihood that this would happen to my kids?’ To know that there is a cure out there … would make that journey a little bit easier.

“The reason I ride is because I want the accessibility of Roswell Park to be there for everybody. To know that there is a cure for this. Even if you get a stage four diagnosis, hopefully, one day, there will be a cure where that won’t be a terminal diagnosis.”

And while cancer is now a part of who Annie is, she is determined to do her part to help make a better future for others.

“Cancer is forever a part of my life, and forever a part of my family’s life. If we can raise funds to help cancer research, so that if I have a reoccurrence, or if someone else from my family is impacted; knowing that the money is going to cancer research so that one day there can be a cure – I couldn’t pick a better place to raise money for.”

Annie’s treatment transformed her. While in the midst of one of the hardest years of her life, she was given some light.

“It is a place I never ever wanted to step foot in, but it is also a place that as soon as I did step foot into that hospital, I was instantly filled with hope. It is the most incredible place to go – when you have to go somewhere.”

Why you should ride with her

Even though Annie is a first-time rider, she is finding that preparing for the Ride is much easier than she expected.

“Fundraising was SO easy! As soon as I signed up, I clicked the link to Facebook and the donations were rolling in before I knew it was even set up.”

Annie is almost at her $5,000 goal and the Ride is still a little bit away.

“The support that we had throughout this last year, was just incredible. Facebook has made it so incredibly easy.”

If you’re planning on coming out to an in-person ride, Annie’s advice is to not be intimidated by distance because it’s not a race. Plus, if you don’t feel comfortable with any of the distances or locations, you can always ride your own way.

”You can even do it on your own. You don’t even have to do it at one of the locations. Distance shouldn’t deter anybody because it has been made so easy for anyone to do it.”

Join the experience

The Ride for Roswell is a family-friendly event for all to enjoy. With no fundraising minimum or registration fee, this year is the perfect time to try it out.

Annie, her family, and friends plan to make a day out of it.

“We’re all riding at the Outer Harbor. Then we are having a party at our house afterward to celebrate the ride, to celebrate me being done with treatment.

“I am excited for August 7. To say treatment is done, and to say we raised a bunch of money for Roswell. I can’t think of a better way to spend a day.”

Get Ready for Ride Spirit Week 2021

Posted on April 23, 2021May 8, 2023 by Sammie Janik

Besides Ride Weekend, Spirit Week is one of our favorite times of the year! This year’s Spirit Week is taking place from Monday, May 17 through Sunday, May 23. Gear up for a full week of fun activities and contests that you won’t want to miss! Here’s the line-up:

MONDAY, May 17

Team Recruitment Challenge

Teams that recruit 10 or more members by Friday, May 21 at 5 p.m. will be entered to win a custom team T-shirt for all members.

Tuesday, May 18

24-Hour Fundraising Match Challenge

Get ready to raise! The first 250 riders to raise $100 will receive a $100 matching gift thanks to the generous support of Linde. Tell your friends and family that this is the day to donate. The match will only last from 12 a.m. – 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday May 18.

Wednesday, May 19

Kickoff at Buffalo Riverworks

Join us at the Ride for Roswell Kickoff at Buffalo RiverWorks! Sessions will begin at 4:30 p.m. and will run in 45-minute intervals until 7:30 p.m. To stay within COVID-19 guidelines, you must be pre-registered for a specific start time.

Thursday, May 20

Lawn Sign Delivery

The team is ready to start delivering your lawn signs! If you got your fundraising started early and hit that $100 mark by Friday, May 14 your lawn sign will be delivered starting today as part of this year’s rider rewards ! But that’s not all… one lucky rider will have an “Instant Extra Mile Club Member” voucher attached to their sign, courtesy of West Herr.

Friday, May 21 - Sunday, May 23

Gear up and go out

Break out your favorite Ride gear from over the years and spread Ride spirit all around Western New York! When you wear your swag to any of the following businesses throughout the weekend, you will receive 10% off your bill. (Check back periodically for an updated list):

Big Ditch Brewing Company

Hofbrauhaus Buffalo

Hartman’s Distilling Co.

Deep South Taco (both locations)

Buffalo RiverWorks

Pearl Street Grill and Brewery

SPoT Coffee

We can’t wait to celebrate Spirit Week 2021 with our incredible Ride community!

Join a mission that is larger than any one person – one that impacts us all

Posted on April 9, 2021May 8, 2023 by Sammie Janik

Fundraising for the Ride for Roswell changes lives. Our goal every year is to get closer to the day where no one’s life will be shortened by a cancer diagnosis. Funds raised help real people and make a real difference.

Looking for some fundraising tips? Here are a few that will make you excited to fundraise, proud of your fundraising goal and give you the tools you need to help increase your support.

Did you know?

There are no fundraising minimums or registration fees this year

This year, the goal is that everyone who wants to participate has the opportunity to ride. Invite all of your friends and family to participate . Come out to one of our five locations or create your own route. We need you!

Fundraising can be fun

The word fundraising can be intimidating. But it doesn’t have to be! Simple tasks like updating your photo on your fundraising dashboard, sharing why you ride on social media and connecting your fundraiser to Facebook all make a HUGE difference. Riders that fundraise with Facebook raise $300 more than those who do not!

Teams accounted for 88% of all fundraising last year

If you have never been to a Ride for Roswell before, this is the perfect time to start. It only takes two people to form a team, so you and your friends can try it out risk free. Ride with us, or anywhere you’d like, and raise funds to help find a cancer cure. Even better – team members don’t all need to ride together on Ride day!

All you have to do is ask

It’s that easy! Reach out to your friends, ask your family members, tell your coworkers all about riding in the Ride for Roswell. If you get 10 people to donate $10, you will have raised $100.

We appreciate all that you do for the Ride. To thank you, our team has chosen some pretty awesome rewards that we hope will motivate you to go the extra mile for the patients at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

$100 – Yard sign
$200 – T-shirt
$500 – Sling bag
$1,000 – Welcome to the Extra Mile Club (EMC)! You’ve earned an EMC jersey, baseball cap, and special yard sign topper
$2,500 – Duffle bag and invitation to ride in the Peloton
$5,000 – Engraved brick in Roswell Park’s Kaminski Park

These rewards and more can be yours, if you and your team gather together and rally for a cancer cure. See below for all the tools you’ll need to get started, connect to our mobile app, fundraise on Facebook and more.

25 Years of Donor Support for Research and Patient Care Programs

Posted on February 9, 2021May 8, 2023 by Sammie Janik

Since our founding in 1996, the Ride for Roswell has become a signature event that changes lives for thousands of people — not just the patients and their families, but the faculty, staff, riders, volunteers and donors across Western New York and beyond who join us in the fight to end cancer. The largest single-day cycling event in the nation, the Ride rallies us and unites us into a community like nothing else can.

The Celebration of Hope and Ride Day are special times to see friends, unite with family, reconnect with team members and pay tribute to those we’ve lost. But at the end of it all, our purpose is what fuels every one of us: helping save more lives from cancer through the funds raised during the Ride.

2020 was supposed to be an iconic year – we were supposed to rally like never before to celebrate our 25th anniversary. Instead, it became an iconic year because of some unprecedented challenges. Out of those challenges, the Summer of the Ride was born. And despite all the obstacles in our way, our incredible community still came together and raised more then $3.6 million for Roswell Park and cancer patients.

Why Do We Ride?

We all have our personal reasons. But when it comes to the ultimate purpose, our quest and our mission, we’ve done some great things through the years. Here are some highlights of the kinds of research, treatment and support the Ride has helped make possible for our patients:

Millions of dollars to research and clinical trials studying lifesaving new treatments like the SurVaxM vaccine for brain cancer, as well as helping scientists bring the Cuban lung cancer vaccine CIMAvax to Roswell Park, the only place in the U.S. where it is available in clinical trials.
1,950 OmniSeq® tests for cancer patients, providing detailed genomic and immune profiles to identify the drug or clinical trial that will work best for them.
Funding for over 500 SAC research grants. As a result of the SAC grants, Roswell Park faculty members have received at least 117 outside grants, including 15 Department of Defense and 3 American Cancer Society grants.
Over 7,400 cancer patient requests for translation services in more than 30 different languages to help patients better understand their diagnosis, treatment and care.
HLA matches for 68 Roswell patients, helping them find donors for their bone marrow transplants.
$1 million to the construction of the Scott Bieler Clinical Sciences Center, which opened in 2016.
$1 million to the Katherine, Anne & Donna Gioia Pediatric Hematology Oncology Center, which opened in 2017.

Timeline of the Ride

We cannot thank our incredible community enough for all the good they’ve done over the last 25 years – and all the good we know they will continue to do! Let’s take a trip down memory lane – check out the timeline of the Ride for Roswell.

Ride for Roswell 2021 taking place on August 7

Posted on December 18, 2020May 8, 2023 by Sammie Janik

Mark your calendars – we will be riding to end cancer on Saturday, August 7, 2021!

We cannot wait to gather again with our incredible community to make a difference this coming summer. Our team is working hard on all the details and we can’t wait to share more. For now, all we will reveal are the two ways to ride:

Ride with us – ride as an individual or with a team at one of our locations
Ride your own way – ride any distance and at any location during the month of August

“The Western New York community and our riders showed up in a big way in 2020 and we’re committed to creating another fun and impactful Ride for Roswell event in 2021,” says Dr. Candace Johnson, president and CEO at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. “If we’ve learned anything this year, it’s that cancer doesn’t stop. There’s new research and clinical trials that need funding, better treatments to be discovered and more lives to be saved, all because of the continued support of the WNY community. I am energized and excited to see what’s in store for the Ride for Roswell in 2021 and I know this community will continue to join us as we ride for our patients and ride to end cancer.”

Registration for the 2021 Ride for Roswell will open to the public on March 1, so don’t miss out! All funds raised benefit groundbreaking cancer research and patient care programs at Roswell Park.

More Cowbell: M&T Bank’s Iconic Support for the Ride for Roswell

Posted on July 22, 2020May 8, 2023 by Sammie Janik

It’s hard to imagine the Ride for Roswell without the M&T Bank start and finish lines towering over the University at Buffalo’s North Campus. They are such an iconic part of Ride Day – and the feeling of crossing beneath them while riding with your friends and family to end cancer is unlike any other.

But in 2011, there were no M&T start or finish lines or volunteers in the hundreds cheering and ringing cowbells. It was just six employees, organized by Ann Marie Hulbert, doing their part in the fight against cancer. They fundraised what they could and tied a banner to a tree, according to Tim McMorrow, Group Vice President at M&T Bank and one of those six people.

Fast forward to 2019, when 189 of the company’s very own crossed the finish line on June 22. And with more than 200 volunteers, M&T Bank raised more than $120,000 for patients at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

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Participating in some capacity at the Ride is something that many M&T Bank employees look forward to each year. And it all stems from community.

“We have a saying: ‘When a community succeeds, we all succeed,’” Tim said. “Bringing together our community for the greater good is really important to everyone here. And [the Ride] brought all of that together.

“My wife was a patient at Roswell Park for over three years. When we were going there regularly and I was in the lobby, I’d run into employees from M&T. It just goes to show you how Roswell touches our community at the bank.”

Katie Coyle, Assistant Vice President at M&T Bank, agrees.

“Everyone has someone that’s been to Roswell. I took an Uber from the airport back into Buffalo, and the driver was talking to me about Roswell. Every aspect of my life has a connection to Roswell – both professionally and personally.”

Think Globally, Act Locally

It’s no small task organizing M&T Bank’s participation in the Ride, but it’s something that Tim and Katie do with pride and love.

“I [always] go back to the story of how it all started and where we’ve grown,” Tim said. “It’s really a small core that brings us all together. And it always makes me feel happy.”

Katie also loves how it brings everyone together.

“During Ride Weekend, I see people from around the bank that I only see there – it’s a time to catch up. It brings us all closer in our internal and external communities.”

Participating in the Ride means so much to so many M&T Bank employees. Here are just a few people they ride for.

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We couldn’t imagine the Ride without M&T Bank and all their employees. Thank you for making the Ride Weekend experience so special!

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