Five employees of Sharon, Massachusetts, supplier Charles River Apparel (PPAI 111644, S10)—Barry Lipsett, president and CEO; Tracy Lehnen, vice president of marketing; Ross Dohrmann, vice president of sales; Mark Watts, inside sales manager, and Kaitlyn Montagna, decorations operations supervisor—completed their first Charles River team ride in this year’s Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC). The PMC is an annual bike-a-thon fundraiser that reportedly raises more for charity than any other athletic fundraising event in the country, with 100 percent of every rider-raised dollar donated to cancer research and treatment at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

On August 3, the Charles River riding team, also known as “crewsers,” completed the 85-mile route from Wellesley to Bourne, Massachusetts, and have already raised more than $20,000, thanks to the support of friends, family and the Charles River organization.

Lipsett has been a proud supporter and rider of the PMC for 15 years, and this year he and Lehnen made it their mission to build the first-ever Charles River riding team, most of whom had not previously participated. Peter Morgan, production manager – knit team, also participated for his 10th time as a volunteer. The team was inspired by the number of riders and volunteers and wanted to do their part in supporting the cause.

“The PMC does amazing work and is unlike any event I’ve been involved with,” says Lipsett. “I am proud of our team’s effort and am excited that everyone is already looking forward to doing it again. Our goal for next year is to double the size of our team and to continue to inspire others to ride and donate to the PMC.”

Leading up to the event, the company also held an internal company fundraiser where Charles River employees paid to participate in various games with all the proceeds going directly to the PMC. The biggest hit was the “Dunk Tank Challenge,” where employees got the chance to dunk their coworkers, including three of the team’s riders.

For more information about the PMC and how you can donate to the Charles River “crewsers,” click here.