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Connor's Army is helping Sunrise Day Camp give children with cancer the chance to
just be children again.

In 2007 Gene Connor rode more than 2,000 miles and raised $12,000 to fight cancer.

Now he's planning to hit the road again ... all 3,000 miles of it between California and New York!

With a fundraising goal of $50,000, he's pledged himself to helping Sunrise Day Camp, the only dedicated day camp in the nation designed for children with cancer and their siblings.

About Sunrise Day Camp

Sunrise Day Camp is a very special place where children with cancer and their siblings can come free of charge to enjoy a summer filled with fun, friendship, and activities - things often denied them by the demands of their medical condition. At Sunrise they can escape the waiting rooms, the lab work, the check-ups, and the chemo-therapy; and be children in the sun.

Sunrise gives children whose normal lives have become far from normal, an extraordinary facility equipped to meet their emotional, social, recreational, and physical needs. For their families, whose financial resources have been overtaxed by the cost of medical care, Sunrise Day Camp provides for free something priceless ... the chance for all their children to be children again

Everyone's life has been touched by cancer in both distant and far-too-close ways. Sunrise Day Camp is helping its youngest victims have the childhood experiences they could too easily miss.

But they need your help as well. Because of the special staffing and physical needs of the children, costs are more than $6,000 for each camper who attends Sunrise. Our goal is to raise $50,000 to give eight children with cancer the chance to be children again.

There are many ways to enlist in Connor's Army:

You can make pledges in support of Gene's ride - all funds raised through pledges go directly to Sunrise Day Camp.
You can join Gene for the annual Victory Ride on Sunday, April 18th, 2010; and the money raised through registration fees will also go to Sunrise Day Camp.
If you're feeling really ambitious you can join Connor's Army XC and cycle cross country with Gene.
Corporate and individual sponsors are always welcome to help defray costs.

Make A Pledge

Dear Friend,

In 2005 my world was turned upside down when my sister Winnie was diagnosed with cancer. Then within two years the unimaginable happened as two more sisters, Angela and TaMara, and my mother all received the same diagnosis.

TaMara and Winnie

I watched them struggle through the battle, and face the unknown future with both fear and courage.

Angela and her husband Per

As a brother and a son, I wanted to help them fight; but I lived hundreds of miles away from each of them.

So I turned to something I know well and made a commitment to cycle 2,000 miles to raise money for the war against cancer.

Now please understand. I'm no Lance Armstrong. I cycle to work and occasionally for pleasure, but by the end of 2007 I'd logged 2,054 commuting miles and raised $12,000.

My sisters and my mother are celebrating anniversaries cancer-free, and Angela and TaMara have both welcomed beautiful new babies. But this disease continues to devastate families all around me.

So I continue my war against cancer.

In honor of the my new niece and nephew, in 2011 I'll ride cross-country to raise money for Sunrise Day Camp.

It'll be an immense effort, but every drop I sweat in the desert will be in gratitude for Winnie, Angela, TaMara and my mom. Every mountain I struggle up will be for families who struggle each day with the unimaginable. Every one of those 3,000 miles I ride will be to help a child stricken with cancer have just a few hours each day when the struggles can be forgotten in the age old joys of childhood summer.

Join Connor's Army in the war against cancer and help them be children again.

Make A Pledge

Thank you,
Gene Connor