PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Dozens of people in Fishtown hopped on their bikes on Saturday to race for a good cause — but they were aiming for a grocery store, not a finish line. Just in time for the holiday season, Cranksgiving, as the event is known, puts a competitive spin on the basic food drive.
Now in its ninth year in Philadelphia, Cranksgiving is often called a "food drive on two wheels." The concept is a scavenger hunt, where bikers race each other to collect various items from grocery store checkpoints and deliver them to a final destination. Whoever has the most pounds of food to donate wins the race. All food and proceeds are going to Philabundance.
On Saturday morning, bikers filled Penn Treaty Park waiting to get a start. Marissa Donahue, who’s riding for the first time, said she’s ready for the challenge.
“I think the challenge is like Jenga, to stack lots of cans in a moving vehicle and, I think it'll make me more efficient at future grocery runs.”
Joe Cox, who goes out on his bike once a month to give away pizzas to people who are hungry, says he loves any chance to give back to the community.
“It's one of the best days of the year, I think,” he said. “I mean, it's a giant bike ride. Great community. And you're doing something to give back. So it just feels great.”
Dan Powers, one of the event’s organizers, says there are three ways to get involved.
“One is just a fun ride. Anybody can come. Anybody can show up. They don't even really need to ride a bike or bring any food. We just want to be able to celebrate community together and bikes and giving,” said Powers.
Jacob Elliot brought his parents out to ride and celebrate his mom's birthday.
"I think just the people hanging out, getting out on bikes — it's a beautiful, sunny day, donating for a good cause,” Elliot said.
Powers said the second way to participate is a checkpoint race. “The riders will need to go to each of those five grocery stores, get one item of food from Philabundance's list, and bring back that food with a receipt — and the fastest one wins.”
The third category is a points race: Each pound of food is worth one point, with multipliers for the number of stores a rider shops at.
While the racing participants are motivated to win, everything is done in the spirit of giving, said Powers.
Cranksgiving began in New York City in 1999 and has since spread to over 100 cities across the country. Over the past eight years in Philadelphia, Cranksgiving has raised close to 15,000 lbs. of food and over $10,000 in donations to directly benefit Philabundance.