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Pedaling for a Purpose: Geaux Ride Partners with Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center
October 31, 2024
Community Spotlight Q&A with Charles Daniel, Geaux Ride
At first glance, a partnership between a bicycle tour company and a cancer care center might seem out-of-the-box. But for Geaux Ride founder Charles Daniel and Alliance grantee Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, the collaboration just made sense. It started with an October fundraiser for breast cancer, where Geaux Ride brought bikes for patients and families to tour Baton Rouge. “The success of that initiative opened our eyes to the opportunity we had to come together and help community members battling cancer.” Geaux Ride went on to sponsor MBPCC’s June 2023 event Engaging the Generations, a free community event in recognition of National Black Cancer Family Awareness Week, aiming to increase awareness of family cancer history, risk factors and prevention measures. Daniel offered free bike tours as well.
Since then, Daniel and MBPCC have forged new pathways to offset Baton Rouge’s specific social drivers of health, from nutrition insecurity to transportation barriers, by hosting ride events that double as one-stop shops for cancer detection and prevention services.
Q: Can you tell me a bit about Geaux Ride’s backstory?
A: I was living in New Orleans, and I wanted a healthy outlet for myself, which became biking with a small group of friends. That small group eventually evolved into hundreds of people on a weekly basis. At a certain point, we realized it could transform it into something even bigger. The reason I brought it home to Baton Rouge was that I saw a lot of disparity in this area. We’d just experienced the historic flood of 2016. Alton Sterling’s death. We needed something to get our minds off of things, to bring back balance into our days. It was the perfect time to introduce biking. Biking — it makes you see the whole world differently, especially in downtown Baton Rouge. It really is beautiful here.
Q: How did your partnership with Mary Bird Perkins originate?
A: I was looking for programming specifically around cancer care, and Mary Bird Perkins is such a prominent figure in our community that it just made sense to partner with them. It started as preventative care — getting people outside and active. Then [MBPCC Director of Equity in Cancer Care] Nicole Honore was actually going into the communities, doing listening sessions, and she approached me for my perspective. No one was really going to the Black communities and hearing what they had to say, even though we’re most at-risk for cancer in our area. Whether it’s from some of the chemical plants in this area, known nationally as Cancer Alley, or hereditary reasons, our community has the highest incidence of cancer of any area in the entire state.
Q: How has the partnership been mutually beneficial?
A: We’ve been able to create events with dual purpose. Mary Bird Perkins brings professionals on site to do educational sessions and share community resources. That’s the technical aspect of this partnership, because while I want to get people outside and active, I can’t tell them if they’re healthy. Together, we’ve also been able to identify issues like food deserts and transportation barriers preventing residents from accessing medical care. Now, we’re designing initiatives that address these disparities while also promoting physical activity through biking.
Q: How has being on the Community Advisory Board (CAB) impacted your work?
A: Before, community leaders were doing things in silos. The CAB brought all of our work together. When one person has an event, we’re all supporting that. We’re all residents of this area. We work here, we have roots here, and we have a vested interest in seeing positive health outcomes for this community. Through the Alliance, we’ve broken down some of those silos and really leveraged our resources together to have a greater impact.
Q: How can others looking to form partnerships with health organizations effectively do so?
A: The best approach is to get involved in your community. I started by volunteering and conducting free bike rides, which led to opportunities to collaborate with the mayor's office and other health care entities. Building relationships through active participation often opens up doors that traditional outreach methods, like emails, might not.
Q: What's your vision for the future of this partnership?
A: My vision is to continue expanding our reach and impact within the community. Recently, we were awarded a grant through the mayoral office and partner organization, Safe Hopeful Healthy Baton Rouge, to keep the work [I started through the Alliance] going. I’m passionate about making biking accessible for everyone while bridging gaps in health disparities.
Written by: Meghan Gunn