The Katie Caples Foundation will host its 3rd annual donor awareness bicycling event called the Katie Ride For Life on Saturday, April 21, 2007, starting on Amelia Island, Florida. The one-day ride will feature a 100-mile and 100km route for avid cyclists and a choice of a 60km or 30km ride for recreational enthusiasts of all ages.

The ride will span four islands to include Amelia, Big Talbot, Little Talbot and Fort George Islands. There will be the option to do a leg through Amelia Island Plantation. At Fort George Island the Park Service will have a water stop at the famous Ribault Club with the opportunity for a short tour.

The Katie Caples Foundation was started in 1998 by the family of Katie Caples, a young high school student from Jacksonville 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 a star 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."

The Katie ride for life offers a variety of routes for cyclists of all ages and abilities.
______________________________________________________

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 an education program for freshman and sophomores at 93 high schools in northeast Florida."

There are more than 90,000 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 904-491-0811 or access their website at www.katierideforlife.org. For information on how you can become an organ and tissue donor, call LifeQuest at (800) 535-GIVE. For Organ Donor information and data access www.lifequestfla.org.