A pair of local shelters received a healthy financial boost from a group of dedicated bicyclists recently.

The organizers of the Prairie Rivers Trail Ride presented $5,000 donations to both the Beacon of Hope and The Lotus Community Project. That money was generated by the Aug. 13 Prairie Rivers Trail Ride during which bicyclists started on Central Avenue and proceeded to pedal their way down all the local trails.

A total of $10,000 in donations is pretty impressive. But that is only a portion of the money the trail ride has generated over the last four years.

Since the first ride in 2019, a total of about $38,000 has been donated to various organizations.

That first ride evolved from a tragedy two years prior. Josh Doyle, of Fort Dodge, suddenly died at age 29 of a rare heart condition called an aortic dissection. Friends who wanted to do something to honor his memory planned a bicycle ride with the goal of raising money to buy automatic external defibrillators. That first ride generated about $7,000, enabling the purchase of seven automatic external defibrillators.

The 2020 ride was held in memory of the Rev. Al Henderson. It raised $8,000 which was donated to Serving Our Servants, That is an organization Henderson established to support local fire and police departments.

The 2021 ride was in memory of Steve Springer, It raised $13,000 for Fort Dodge Community School District athletics.

This year’s ride was in memory of Tim Flaherty. His family requested that the money be donated to the Beacon of Hope and The Lotus Community Project.

The core group of trail ride organizers will be thinking about next year’s version soon. That group includes, but is certainly not limited to, Bruce and Carol Breeser, Tim and Susan Doyle, Racquel Benegas, and John and Melissa Nanninga.

That group continues to prove that there are people in Fort Dodge always trying to make things better in their community.