After five grueling days of riding across desert terrain in support of Alyn Hospital, Ruth Ekstein triumphantly entered Eilat on her mountain bike with 424 other riders amidst a cheering crowd. “It was the most exhilarating thing I’ve ever done,” says the long-time UJA Federation volunteer. “We didn’t know if we should laugh or cry or yell and I think we did a little of all three.”

One of 50 Torontonians who completed this year’s Wheels of Love charity ride, in which participants biked from Jerusalem to Eilat to raise money for Israel’s only comprehensive pediatric and adolescent rehabilitation centre, Ekstein describes the experience with unbridled enthusiasm. “The scenery was spectacular, the weather was amazing, and there were 425 riders from ten countries so the opportunity to meet a bunch of crazy like-minded people was fantastic. I’d go again in a heartbeat.”

Earl Haltrecht, an orthodontist from Toronto and co-chair of UJA Federation’s Partners Circle raised US $5,500 on the charity ride. “I love riding, I love Israel, and it’s a fabulous cause, so I’d say it was win-win-win.”

Alyn Hospital, a world leader in rehabilitation of children with a broad range of physical disabilities, is the only facility of its kind in Israel.

“Any time there are children involved - whether it’s a congenital deformity or accident victims or victims of terror, your heart opens up and you’ll do anything for them,” says Haltrecht.

Although Ekstein has been supporting the Alyn ride for many years, this was the first year that the occupational therapist from Toronto put her feet where her money is.

From October 29 to November 2, she averaged 100 off-road kilometers each day, going “where roads don’t go, which was really exceptional,” and raising almost US $7,000 for Alyn, which is well on its way to reaching its $2.5 million goal for this year’s ride.

Ekstein first got involved with Wheels of Love five years ago, when her best friend participated in the ride and asked her to help fundraise. At the time, her husband - Alan Lechem - was co-chair of the Israel Action Committee at Beit Rayim Synagogue, and the synagogue took on fundraising for Alyn.

“My husband decided,‘why just fundraise when I can also ride,’ so in 2004 he went with four members of our synagogue and then last year he went again. But this year I and another woman from our synagogue said,‘well if the boys can do it, we can too,’so we went this year and my husband stayed home with the kids.”

http://www.jewishtoronto.com/page.aspx?id=6710
reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO