The first ‪Hospice Bike Tour Chisinau-Brasov-Bucharest, staged on June 15-20, managed to collect almost €8,000 in donations from over 240 people. The participants rode about 600 km, pedaling and calling on those who followed them on social networking sites to donate money for alleviating the sufferings of children with incurable diseases. Eleven persons from Moldova accepted the challenge, IPN reports.

According to the official website of the event, Bike Tour is the first tour on bike for a charitable purpose. The cyclists set off at the head office of Hospice Angelus Moldova in Chisinau, had a pit stop at the Hospice Casa Sperantei in Brasov and finished the race at Hospice Casa Sperantei in Bucharest.

One of the participants, Ion Vasilica, vice director of IPN News Agency, said he had to sit on a bike to understand that there is a valley after each hill. “Not everyone is lucky to have short hills on their way. Some have to climb whole mountains. We cannot climb the mountain instead of them, but can help them by being near them, like on a tandem,” he stated.

Participant Dumitru Alaiba noted that he took this opportunity to test his personal limits for a noble cause. “Our common objective at Hospice Bike Tour 2016 is to help as many people who need palliative care as possible,” he said. At the end of the race, Dumitru Alaiba stated that even if the tour is over, donations can be made until June 25 at https://guvern24.md/projects/hospice-bike-tour/.

Raluca Munteanu, executive director of Hospice Angelus Moldova, said any made contribution helps her and her colleagues to hearten someone who suffers from an incurable disease.

Hospice Angelus Moldova is the main provider of free palliative care services for children and grownups who suffer from terminal or progressive diseases, with a limited life expectancy. In 2015 Hospice Angelus offered assistance to over 2,300 patients.