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BY CLAY BONNYMAN EVANS

During the COVID-19 pandemic members of the board of directors for the Boys & Girls Club of Bluffton thought they noticed a trend toward more “active” fundraising events for non-profit organizations — golf, shooting clays, a bicycle ride.

When they started looking around for what kind of fundraiser might be right for Bluffton, they didn’t have to look far: Their sister club just across the bridge had been holding the phenomenally successful Pedal Hilton Head Island bike ride to benefit local kids for 15 years.

“They have an extremely active group of cyclists involved. It’s a huge event, first-class, very well run. In May they had over 600 riders,” says Mollie Sandman, board president of the Bluffton club and a development officer at South Atlantic Bank.

And if they were going to hold a bicycling event, the Bluffton board saw no reason to reinvent the wheel(s). Sandman called up Russ Whiteford, past president of the Boys & Girls Club of Hilton Head and a key organizer of the Pedal event.

“We went to him and asked, ‘Can you help us pull off an event like this in Bluffton?’” Sandman says. “And because he is the amazing, awesome person he is, he said, ‘Of course I can.’”

And so, thanks to a big — and ongoing — assist from Whiteford and others from Pedal Hilton Head Island, the first Bike Bluffton event will roll out on Nov. 6.

“Russ came in and we brought in other cyclists who helped us with all the details: routes, supplies, registration and marketing for the event,” Sandman says. “We’re so grateful to have those folks walking beside us. There are things that we never in a million years would have thought of without them.”

“Based on our success on Hilton Head, we’ve been able to bring our knowledge to Bluffton. Now we’ve got Pedal Hilton Head in the spring and Bike Bluffton in the fall, and there’s plenty of room for both,” Whiteford says.

Two-wheeled enthusiasts can choose from four different routes and distances: • A “metric century” of 100 kilometers, or 62 miles, which winds through Bluffton and takes riders all the way out to Palmetto Bluff and back • A 30-mile out-and-back ride with several loops • A 10-mile out-and-back jaunt on bicycle paths • And a 2-mile loop near the Bluffton Buckwalter

Recreation Center “intended for little kids, moms and dads,” Sandman says. $799,900 $740,000

“We have a little bit of something for everybody,” she says.

Riders have the option to register for the three longer rides for $70 ($50 for the 2-mile ride) or sponsor an individual child from the Boys & Girls Club of Bluffton on any route for $300.

“If you choose to ride for a kid, a picture of the child goes on the back of your jersey,” Sandman says. “That’s somebody who has chosen to really step up and contribute to the kids in the club.”

More than a month out from its inaugural ride, Bike Bluffton had already registered three-quarters of its initial goal of 250 riders.

“The preliminary indications of success are phenomenal. We are expecting over 300 riders with a net of over $50,000 for the Boys & Girls Club of Bluffton,” says Whiteford, an active cyclist. “That all goes toward programs that focus on academic success, healthy lifestyles and making sure kids are good citizens.”

The Boys & Girls Club of Bluffton has served more than 4,500 children ages 6-18 since opening its doors in 1998.

The community has enthusiastically embraced the event, Sandman and Whiteford say, from title sponsors Dollenberg Properties, May River Dermatology, Eastman Marine Construction and MBC Pools to a dozen more business sponsors, the Bluffton Police Department and the Town of Bluffton. Sandman says the board sees potential for an even more extensive event down the road, potentially involving all six individual clubs in Boys & Girls Clubs of the Lowcountry, including those in Beaufort and Jasper County.

“We’d love to figure out a way to involve them,” she says. “We just live in such an attractive area. We’re hopeful the event has the capacity to continue to expand.”

To register for Bike Bluffton, go to bikebluffton.org.