By Julia Train
Ryland Bricker, a 13 year old from Marmora has raised over $200,000 for cancer research through BMX racing.
“It doesn’t feel real to be honest. It doesn’t seem like that much every year but the number added up is insane,” he said.
Ryland got into BMX at 7 years old when his mother worked from home and needed something to occupy his time. So Nick Bricker, Ryland’s father, brought him to the BMX track and he fell in love with the sport.
At the time, Mr. Bricker was happy that his son didn’t get into a team sport that traveled, but it turned out they travel more than anybody.
This year alone, they were in Louisville, Kentucky, Lexington, Virginia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Missouri and South Carolina.
“We travel a lot. The first year we started doing it I bought a minivan. I put 60,000 miles on it,” he said.
Although a lot of travel, it turned out to be worth it.
Neither of them knew it at the time, but USA BMX had a program called “The Race For Life,” where members raise money for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Mr. Bricker has been involved in nonprofits for a long time and brought his son to the events since he was a baby.
“He would always be like, ‘someday I want to do this,’” Mr. Bricker said.
This year, he’s raised $43,500 and a little over $200,000 during the entirety of his fundraising journey, which has been six years.
Although Ryland gets some ideas and help from his father, who’s seasoned in charity work, he asks for donations instead of birthday or Christmas presents.
“We get creative. We have different things he does for local businesses,” said Mr. Bricker. “The local community and the local businesses in Ocean City and Upper Township have been incredibly supportive.”
Some tactics Ryland’s used to raise money include sitting outside Super Liquor with his helmet, collecting change in the summer and selling his toys. He has even worked with social media stars like YouTuber Ben Gravy and entrepreneur Roman Scharf, who he made a YouTube video with and met just by sending a message via Instagram.
Mr. and Mrs. Bricker have also started a 501(c)(3) in his BMX name, BMX Bob, called the BMX Bob Brigade.
Each year USA BMX holds the Grand Nationals in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which Nick described at the “Super Bowl of BMX.” At the five-day event, the top fundraiser in the country is recognized, which has been Ryland for the last six years.
On Friday night during the long weekend, professional BMX champions are crowned, which include those who race in the Olympics. In the middle of it, Ryland was honored as the year’s top fundraiser.
When asked what he’s learned from the entirety of his fundraising, Ryland said, “It’s generally not about yourself, it’s about the people you’re going to help in the future.”
Julia is a student at Rider University, majoring in multiplatform journalism with a minor in social media strategies. At school, she writes and copy edits for The Rider News and is the News Director for the radio station, producing news updates. She’ll be graduating in the spring. Connect with her on Instagram @juliatrain
