Editor,

On behalf of the board of directors of the Whidbey General Hospital Foundation, I am writing to express our heartfelt thanks to all the volunteers who helped make the 2013 Tour de Whidbey a success.

We were blessed with a beautiful day despite the dismal weather forecast. With the support of our volunteers, sponsors, contributors and riders, the event raised $40,000 for the hospital.

We want to acknowledge the dedicated members of the Island County Amateur Radio Club and the Island Wings motorcycle group for doing such a fantastic job of monitoring the routes. We are so grateful for their care and concern for the safety of our riders. There are two other groups of behind-the-scenes folks that make the ride possible: the Whidbey Island Bicycle Club volunteers who were out the week before the ride marking the pavement with route arrows, and the four teams of volunteers from the Westside Rotary, NAS Whidbey and Whidbey General Hospital who spent Friday evening putting up route signs and Saturday evening taking them back down. Thank you all so much for your help.

Our riders enthusiastically thank the folks who provide the meals before and after their ride, and the wonderful break station hospitality. Windermere Real Estate agents arrived at 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning to put on the pancake and sausage breakfast for the riders, and the ladies of the Polly Harpole Guild stepped up for the afternoon chili feeds. The break station heroes this year were from Whidbey Vision Care, Whidbey Community Physicians, Whidbey Island Bank, Coldwell Banker Tara Properties, Sweetwater Creek Farm Studio, as well as hospital employee volunteers from the Diagnostic Imaging and Medical Ambulatory Care/Oncology departments and the Employee Council.

The Tour de Whidbey is a community effort to support Whidbey General Hospital. We are humbled by the generosity of our community.

Thank you.

LAURA BLANKENSHIP

executive director

Whidbey General Hospital Foundation