‘Ride for Emily’ comes to town

Around 2:45 p.m. on Saturday, June 1, despite the Sodbuster Rodeo on in full swing, there was a distant rumble as more than 30 bikers pulled in to the parking lot of Figure It Out Fitness Studio as part of the ‘Ride for Emily’ fundraiser.

Coordinated and organized by owner/operator Leah Todd, this was the fourth anniversary of the fundraiser, though it was only the second time for Tofield that it had stopped by.

“Emily’s mom, Stephanie and I had bonded, and we always kept in touch. So when she approached me last year whether the ride could stop by at my studio as a pit-stop, I was more than happy to help,” Todd said. “This was the second year that the memorial ride stopped by, and we would continue to support this initiative as much as we can.”

It was a Facebook post that Stephanie Taylor had made regarding her daughter, which drew Todd’s attention in 2013. “She mentioned that she wanted someone to check a ditch off Hwy. 14 for her daughter Emily’s belongings,” Todd recalled. “It was winter when her daughter had been involved in a severe accident, but since it was spring by then, Stephanie hoped that the snow having been melted would reveal some of Emily’s personal items, like her cell phone, or anything that might have fallen out of the car.”

Despite the fact that Emily had survived the accident, she later went on to take her life, and this was what had made her mom reach out to the community in the hope of retrieving some of her daughter’s belongings. . . . contd.