Berkeley cops set off on Tahoe charity ride
Published: September 8, 2005
For the 21st straight year, Berkeley police officers will ride more than 200 miles in two days to raise money for the department’s holiday food basket program.
Twenty riders were scheduled to leave the Berkeley Police Department before sunrise today to begin the 216-mile trek to Lake Tahoe.
Riders are off-duty and retired employees of the Berkeley Police Department and the University of California, Berkeley Police Department, as well as officers’ friends and family. Riders get pledges and sponsors to raise money.
The ride was started in 1983 by three Berkeley officers who rode their bikes from Berkeley to South Lake Tahoe for fun. During the trip, they talked about how to develop a community service project involving other officers.
Two years later, the first Turkey Ride took place when seven Berkeley officers rode the 216 miles from Berkeley to Lake Tahoe in two days. They raised enough money to buy 250 turkeys and holiday fixings for families. Since then the ride has grown, and officers now raise enough money to buy about 500 food baskets.
Officers submit names of needy Berkeley families to receive holiday baskets and then, along with the Berkeley Boosters, distribute the baskets to the families.
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