Kendyl's Ride marks second year of fundraising for UI Stead Family Children's Hospital
PRESTON, Iowa - (Iowa's News Now) — On your average day, Preston isn't what you'd call a bustling place.
"No, no it's not," says Corey Driscoll.
But Saturday wasn't your average day.
What Corey says is usually a quieter street looked like a UTV convention, with not a parking space to be had. People filled town hall and the adjacent Downtown Pub.
It's the kind of thing that turns heads, including Kendyl Driscoll's.
Even though it's all her idea.
"It's a big thing to me and it just brings a lot of people in since a lot of people have side-by-sides," she says.
At only twelve, Kendyl has started a tradition that's now in its second year. Kendyl's SxS Ride only starts in Preston, but will eventually make it all the way to the UI Stead Family Children's Hospital. Or at least the money will.
Kendyl's fundraising actually started on a much smaller scale last summer.
"My sister and my friend, we were talking about raising money for the children's hospital and in the summer we did a lemonade stand," she says.
"They uh, raised a thousand dollars in one day," dad Corey says. "And then just from there it took off, we went into the side-by-side ride."
Last year's inaugural ride raised about $13,000. Corey says they had around 100 SxS's on the ride that convoys around Jackson County.
This year, he says, there's even more support.
Jeronimo's catered breakfast and the after-ride dinner. Christiansen Coffee Company brought the fuel in the form of baked goods and coffee, plus a special Hawkeye-themed pineapple upside down drink, Kendyl's favorite.
"Kendyl is young and doing great things already so I think we just want to support young people and lift them up," coffee company owner Nicole Christiansen says.
All those people willing to go the extra mile, riding from Preston to Maquoketa, to La Motte, Bellevue, Springbrook and back. About 50 miles roundtrip, Corey says.
All for Kendyl and her hospital.
"Because I have to go to the Iowa Children's Hospital every two months to get that infusion," she explains. "When I was two I got diagnosed with ulcerative colitis."
"Wow, what an eye opener that was," Corey says. "Seeing all these kids in the hospital and the cancer center was right across the way and she said to me one day, 'I don't have it that bad, do I Dad?' I was like no you don't. It's emotional."
Emotional, something Corey also feels looking out at the line of UTVs. This particular parade shows us how far we can go when we do it side by side.
"Sometimes it's overwhelming seeing all the support," he says.
