Rancheros Visitadores - Ride for a Cure
2019 Rancheros Visitadores Ride
to Support Breast Cancer Awareness and Programs
Saturday, May 4, 2019
3:00 - 4:00 pm
Solvang to Mission Santa Ines
The Rancheros Visitadores chose to partner with Wrangler Jeans and the Tough Enough to Wear Pink Foundation to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer patients throughout Santa Barbara County. This event marked the 89th ride for the Rancheros that begins each year with a festive parade through the streets of Solvang to Mission Santa Ines.
A group of 750 cowboys on horseback and carriages parades along Alisal Road. Through the Rancheros’ efforts since 2012, over $1,000,000 has been contributed to the Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara. 100% of the proceeds help local breast cancer patients at the Ridley-Tree Cancer Center including: clinical research trials, wellness classes and support programs, hereditary cancer risk counseling, nurse navigation, and lymphedema education and screening. These services are available to all breast cancer patients who reside in Santa Barbara County regardless of where they receive treatment or their ability to pay. Those who support the cause of finding a cure for breast cancer are encouraged to save the date for this inspirational event.
“The Rancheros have been returning to Santa Barbara County and the Santa Ynez Valley for 89 years. Though our members come from far and wide, this is the Rancheros’ home, and we have found a cause we believe in. We understand it is important to give back to the community we return to year after year,” explains Ranchero Steve Beneto. “Our goal is to raise $1 million by 2019. The response has been fantastic as we continue our support of the Cancer Center and their excellent care of breast cancer patients and their families on the central coast.”
"We are honored by the Rancheros’ outstanding support since 2012," said Lori Willis, Executive Director at the Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara. "The river of pink shirts was a delightful surprise the first time they decided to partner with the Tough Enough To Wear Pink group back in 2012. Each year since, more and more onlookers are wearing pink also – it is a vibrant, powerful, emotional experience. We are indebted to the Rancheros for their part in ensuring all aspects of our patient’s physical, mental and psychological needs are tended to throughout treatment, recovery and survivorship, all while doing our part to help find a cure."
Within a mile of Rancheros’ parade route resides the Ridley-Tree Cancer Center’s Solvang office (2040 Viborg Rd #140, Solvang) which provides Santa Ynez residents with access to physicians who have studied, worked and taught at the finest cancer centers in the world, including Harvard, Sloan-Kettering, UCLA and the National Institutes of Health. This office cared for over 900 cancer patients in 2017, and reflects the rural community in which it is situated. The office is home to a equestrian bronze sculpture donated by the Rancheros Visitadores in 2014. Entitled Victory Ride by Joni Perry (sister of Ranchero Tom Perry), the sculpture has a powerful cancer story behind it. The bronze shows three young girls blissfully enjoying a horseback ride, each a likeness of Joni’s three granddaughters. Joni was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997, was re-diagnosed in 2005 (stage IV), and eventually succumbed to cancer in 2012. Joni dedicated Victory Ride to her mother, brother and sister-in-law who were all battling cancer at the same time. “My hope is that it can be as encouraging to others as it has been to me in sculpting it,” expressed Joni before her passing. While Ms. Perry’s bronze artwork inspires those in the waiting room of the Cancer Center’s Solvang office, the Rancheros Tough Enough to Wear Pink Ride provides hope and inspiration to thousands each year.
Ridley-Tree Cancer Center also offers oncology appointments in Solvang (2040 Viborg Rd Suite 140, Solvang) and in 2017 opened a new world-class regional cancer center in Santa Barbara (540 W. Pueblo St., Santa Barbara).
