Motorcycles kick off the 5th annual Maggie’s Ride in Bakersville. The ride raises funds for the Maggie Rae Young Memorial Scholarship fund which aims to put one of Maggie’s classmates through college.
The memory of the late Maggie Young lives on through the annual Maggie’s Ride fundraiser and the 2023 edition of the event proceeded as planned.
During the fifth year of Maggie’s Ride on Saturday, Aug. 19, 89 motorcycles and other vehicles and hundreds of people became part of a large convoy that met at and then left the Bakersville Fire Department, went through Roan Mountain and around Watauga Lake.
Each vehicle paid to register for the ride and T-shirts and door prize tickets were sold at the event with all proceeds benefiting the Maggie Rae Young Memorial Scholarship fund.
Maggie Young, who was a student at Gouge Elementary, died in April 2019.
Maggie’s Ride raised nearly $3,000 in its first year in 2019 and raised money in 2020 despite the pandemic.
The 2021 event raised $4,650— nearly triple the total from 2020. The most recent edition of the ride raised $5,302. To date, the Maggie Rae Young Memorial Scholarship fund contains more than $41,000.
Maggie’s mom Amy Young said the goal of the fund is to put one of Maggie’s classmates— who will graduate high school in 2031— through college.
“Maggie loved school,” Amy Young said. “She loved her friends. That is why I want to be able to put one of her classmates through college.”
The scholarship fund is set up through United Community Bank of Bakersville.
Donors can donate through the bank all year.
The 2023 ride also featured door prizes donated by area businesses.
“We are so grateful for the amazing turnout,” Young said. “We are well on our way to being able to be able to send one of Maggie’s classmates to college.”