Racing For Kids to the Hill 2020 is Cancelled Due to Covid 19

“Racing For Kids to the Hill” – one of the most widely anticipated and well attended events on the Grosse Pointe social calendar – has been cancelled for 2020 because of the continuing risk associated with the Covid 19 pandemic our country and state have been combating.   The annual end-of-summer festival has been a fixture in the social calendar for the last 14 years and has enjoyed great support from sponsors and the community at large.  Racing For Kids® is a locally-based national children’s charity that uses the popularity of motorsports to focus public attention and funding on the healthcare needs of children.  Racing For Kids to the Hill is the charity’s largest fundraiser and the proceeds from past events have benefited pediatric programs at Ascension St. John Hospital, Beaumont Grosse Pointe, Henry Ford Health System and the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation.

“Over the past 14 years, with the support our wonderful sponsors and  the community,  the Hill Event, as it’s commonly called,  has grown into one of the most popular events in Grosse Pointe.  So the Steering Committee’s decision to cancel was particularly difficult to make.  But after reviewing all our options we realized it just wouldn’t be feasible to stage an experience of this scope during this challenging time,” said Tom Buhl, co-chair of the annual event.

While this year’s event has been cancelled, the work of Racing For Kids is ongoing.  “Our mission of helping sick kids get better faster has not paused.  While we can’t make our regular bedside visits to hospitalized children right now, we continue to work with the Child Life Departments of the hospitals we would normally be visiting and have come up with creative ways to interact with our young patients.   Like staging virtual visits of our celebrity racers with hospitalized kids and sending hats, coloring books and Wikki Stix, “ said J. Patrick Wright, executive director and CEO of Racing For Kids.   “Additionally we have worked with our restaurant partners to deliver meals to a local hospital and the frontline responders of Grosse Pointe Farms DPS and DPW.  They have been the back bone of our annual event and we wanted to say thank you.”

Buhl hinted that there may still be some sort of event to mark the end of summer.  “We are exploring ways to stage some kind of event around our original date of September 2, 2020.  As these ideas take shape, we will be back in contact with the community to let you know what’s happening, “ he said.

For information about Racing For Kids visit www.racingforkids.org