ROCK THE RIDE IS BACK

11/29/2022

Dear generous donors and past participants of Rock the Ride,

At age 31 I had lived in Jackson for just a year when I suffered a stroke from three blood clots in different, major veins of my brain. I was lucky enough to walk away healthy and had great health insurance to back up my experience. Because not everyone has the same fortunate outcome, Rock the Ride was born as a personal way to recognize that stroke and cardiac issues can happen to anyone at any age, give back to the Jackson community and celebrate another year in business at VIM.

Sunday, March 8th, 2020, we rallied together for the 5th Annual Rock the Ride. We enjoyed each other’s irreplaceable company, laughed endlessly, sang, danced, let go and just got to be our most authentic selves… and all for a valuable cause. That year Rock the Ride raised a record breaking $117k for the St. Johns Health Foundation Stroke and Cardiac Fund (over $300k from 2012-2020) and then the world stopped.

Since then, all our lives have changed. As small business owner I was faced with tough decisions to help keep my fitness studio open. One of those was to let VIMs fleet of almost 50 Rock the Ride indoor bikes go. These bikes were personally collected to help grow Rock the Ride and immediately became a source of income as equipment rentals when the pandemic hit (which remains a “thing” on a much smaller scale). After two years of my husband, Toby and I cleaning, loading, unloading, delivering, retrieving, maintaining, repeating time and time again we made the tough call to sell them and close that chapter. One-by-one we let them go and knew the challenges we faced once it came time to relaunch Rock the Ride.

Even through the toughest challenges of the past few years, those moments grew resilience and purpose was found. I dearly missed this philanthropic circus I had brought to life and could not wait to create it once again. But when I did, I wanted nothing more than to build something bigger, bolder and more meaningful than ever. And why not take this show on the road? A traveling fitness circus for a cause? Yes, yes please! And from that, Rock On Society was born.

So while this magical event itself is established and proven, Rock On Society as a nonprofit is just getting started. With that, there is much that remains needed to make the first Rock On Society event happen and to thrive this coming March 11th, 2023. We expect to relaunch this event it could run close to $100k. As a start-up, there is much work that needs to be done to get this event alone back off the ground. And then from there, watch out!

We sure have missed sharing this special day with everyone. But now it’s time to once again mark your calendar for the most dynamic, epic local event of the year and get fundraising! Let’s get the band back together — because stroke and cardiac issues are happening all around us daily, and we have the power to make a difference.

Rock On,

Julie Guttormson, Founder