Friends to cross country on bikes for kids
By Harold Gwin
The trip will raise money for Akron Children’s Hospital of the Mahoning Valley.
Scott Finamore of Poland and Sam Malaska of Youngstown have been riding bicycles together for years.
They’ve made some sizeable journeys on their two-wheelers in the past, sometimes going as far as 100 miles, but all they’ve done in the past pales in comparison with what they plan to do in the near future.
The pair will ride from Youngstown to San Francisco, a 3,000-mile journey that started out as just an adventure but turned into a community fund-raising project.
Finamore, 23, and Malaska, 19, hope to raise at least $15,000 for the Akron Children’s Hospital of the Mahoning Valley.
“We’re both the adventurous type,” said Finamore, a junior sociology major with a music minor at Youngstown State University. “We rode our bikes everywhere last summer, and I came up with the trip idea to visit a friend in California.”
Malaska will take time off from his two jobs — Starbucks and The Flaming Ice Cube — to make time for the ride.
“I thought he was crazy,” Malaska said, recalling the day Finamore proposed the trip. “Then, I said, ‘Give me the logistics. How are we going to do this?’ I signed on. I couldn’t let my friend go alone.”
Once they began telling their friends about the plan, some suggested they find a cause to benefit from the effort, and the pair approached the hospital about the possibility of getting involved. The plan took off from there.
The two young men toured the hospital’s facilities and liked what they saw, pointing out that it is oriented to kids and provides care for the family as well as the young patient.
They also learned that the hospital has a charity program that provides medical care for children even if their families can’t afford it, a community-conscious approach to health care that appealed to them, Finamore said.
Proceeds from the ride will be channeled into that program, he added.
The two have set aside 51 days to make the trip, more than enough time to accomplish the task and perhaps enjoy some of the sights along the way, Finamore said.
The plan is to depart Youngstown May 9 and fly back June 29, in time for the start of some summer classes at YSU that Finamore plans to take.
The touring bicycles, provided by Cycle Sales of Boardman, will come back by ground shipment.
They will follow the American Discovery Trail, an interlocking series of bicycle trails, much of the way, and occasionally using secondary roads for the most direct route. They’ll spend most of their nights in a small tent, although occasional stops at motels along the way are likely, Malaska said.
Both Malaska and Finamore are musicians and play in local bands. They plan to put on a benefit concert in mid-April to kick off the fund-raising part of the trip. They’re also anticipating an endorsement from Youngstown’s Kelly Pavlik, middleweight boxing champion.
All of the money raised will stay right here in the Mahoning Valley, Finamore said.
A friend has set up a Website for the effort dubbed Cali For Kids, and it will be used to map the progress of the trip as well as a location for sponsors to sign up to support the ride. Corporate, day and per mile sponsorships are available.
The site can be found at www.califorkids.com. All donations are tax deductible.
A Cali For Kids account has also been set up at First Place Bank to handle donations, and Chipper’s Bar & Grille on Mahoning Avenue will also be a collection site, Finamore said. The bar will also have a large map using pins to mark their progress across the country.
gwin@vindy.com