The Katie Caples Foundation will host its first donor awareness bicycling event called the Katie Ride For Life on Sunday, April 17, 2005, starting in Jacksonville, Florida. The one-day ride will feature a 100km route for avid cyclists and a choice of a 60km or 30km ride for recreational enthusiasts of all ages.

The Katie Caples Foundation was started in 1998 by the family of Katie Caples, a young local high school student who became an organ and tissue donor after not surviving the trauma of an automobile accident.

"We are hosting this event in memory of Katie and the wonderful legacy she left behind," says David Caples, Katie's father and foundation chairman. "Katie was an athlete, and it is fitting to her memory to host a sporting event like this in her name. She was also a generous child who gave many others a chance to live through her gifts of organ and donor tissue."

Katie Caples was a cross-country runner at
Bishop Kennny who died in a 1998 automobile accident.
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The Katie Ride For Life will raise funds to increase awareness of the importance of organ and tissue donation and encourage Floridians to make a positive decision about donation.

"The decision to become an organ and tissue donor is very important," says Kathleen Giery of LifeQuest Organ Recovery Services, the local organ donor program for northern Florida. "We hope that through this event, we can not only provide donor education to the community, but also raise funds for future donor education campaigns."

There are more than 83,000 Americans currently on the national organ transplant waiting list, with roughly 3,000 listed at transplant centers in Florida.
For more information on how you can become involved in the Katie Ride For Life, call the Katie Caples Foundation at 904-261-1137 or visit their website at http://www.katierideforlife.org. For information on how you can become an organ and tissue donor, call LifeQuest at (800) 535-GIVE.