Riders in the annual Maggie’s Ride pull over and take a breather in a parking lot before continuing their journey through Burnsville and toward Tennessee. (Photo courtesy of Amy Young)
BAKERSVILLE — The memory of the late Maggie Young lives on through the annual Maggie’s Ride fundraiser and the 2021 edition of the event proceeded as planned.
During the third year of Maggie’s Ride on Saturday, Aug. 21, 70 motorcycles and other vehicles and more than 125 people became part of a large convoy that met at and then left the Bakersville Fire Department, went to Burnsville, then took Highway 19 W. in Yancey County across Spivey and toward Erwin, Tn.
Each vehicle paid $20 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.
To date, the Maggie Rae Young Memorial Scholarship fund contains more than $22,000.
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 on a full ride.
“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 when this is all over with.”
The Maggie Rae Young Scholarship fund is set up through United Community Bank of Bakersville and donors can donate through the bank all year.