SMART Ride 8 smashes fundraising records

The 8th annual SMART Ride was a record-breaking fundraiser for AIDS organizations in Central and South Florida, raising more than $675,700. Six hundred participants made the annual bike trip from Miami to Key West, a 2-day 156-mile journey.

See photo gallery of SMART Ride 8.

Glen Weinzimer, SMART Ride founder, said the fundraiser is special because 100 percent of the money raised goes to charity.

â┚¬Å”We give the riders a degree of control over distribution of their funds,â┚¬Â Weinzimer said. â┚¬Å”Half of the money gets divided evenly [among the six charities], and the second half, the individual gets to decide how it's distributed among the agencies we benefit.â┚¬Â

Those agencies are Broward House, Metropolitan Charities, the Center for Positive Connections in Miami Dade, AIDS Help out of Key West, Miracle of Love out of Orlando and the Comprehensive AIDS Program of Palm Beach County.

â┚¬Å”In a tight economic time, this was our best year ever,â┚¬Â Weinzimer said.

They raised 42 percent over last year's fundraising total of $475,000.

â┚¬Å”It gives people that are positive a sense of affirmation that they're bigger than the disease, it allows people who have lost people a way to grieve and celebrate their life, and it's a physical and mental challenge,â┚¬Â Weinzimer said. â┚¬Å”Once they get into the event, the original reason they rode changes as they start to understand the impact they're making in the communities we pass and the people's lives that we touch.â┚¬Â

He said more than 7,000 individuals donated along the ride's path, representing â┚¬Å”7,000 people moved to do somethingâ┚¬Â by the ride.

The agencies will receive their checks Jan. 14, and won't know the total amount they're getting until the check is in hand.

Planning for the 2012 SMART Ride 9 is already underway. Weinzimer said 55 people have already registered but they've ceased registration temporarily while they close out this year's event.

â┚¬Å”I think we're more energized than ever before after this year's ride,â┚¬Â he said.

Registration will reopen Jan. 1, 2012.