Pedaling for a Healthy Future
What does cancer research have in common with land conservation?
It’s all about legacy and looking forward.
Most of us have experience with cancer through the illness of a loved one or our own personal health. We know how the experience of illness focuses our energy on the things that matter, the people we care for, the beauty we find around us, the sources of joy and renewal in our lives.
UVLT Conservation Project Manager Sara Cavin, her husband Ed Meyer, and UVLT President Jeanie McIntyre’s daughter Chelsea Little at the 2010 Prouty.
We also know the promise and limitations of science, the pursuit of elusive information that will enable more effective care and eventual cure. Research is an accumulation of information and effort over many, many years. It takes many people sharing ideas and acting in cooperative dedication. It’s a legacy.
Land conservation, too, is a leap of faith. There’s a lot we don’t know about what the future will bring – in our own lives and in the world around us. But there are some things we know and hold dear. People conserve land because they care deeply about tomorrow.
This weekend there will be thousands of people on the roads and trails and on the river, raising money for the Norris Cotton Cancer Center. They are pedaling, walking, rowing for a future where healthy people can ride bikes past cornfields and through villages, hear the birds in the marshes and rest in the quiet shade of tall trees.
UVLT’s conserved lands signs from the 2009 Prouty.
UVLT’s yellow signs will mark the dozens of conserved properties along this year’s Prouty route. These places speak to the values of Upper Valley people today – and they are a legacy looking forward to a healthy future.
Pedal on!
Jeanie McIntyre
UVLT President
