
The Wine Pub is hosting its third annual Bike for Boobs anti-breast cancer fundraising Bike Ride and Wine Celebration on Shelter Island Sunday, Oct. 18 starting at 3 p.m. at The Wine Pub, 2907 Shelter Island Drive.
A $25 donation is suggested, and all proceeds benefit the Breast Cancer Fund. The donation includes a glass of wine or craft beer, hosted appetizers and a silent auction full of bike wag, wine and more.
The event includes a casual bike ride around Shelter Island followed by a wine reception and auction back at the restaurant. Community members come out decked in head-to-toe pink, including their bikes, to support the cause.
Last year, Bike for Boobs raised $9,000 for the Breast Cancer Fund.
The event itself is an awesome story about Point Loma rallying behind a great cause. But the backstory is even more inspiring.
Sandy Hanshaw, The Wine Pub’s owner, survived her own battle with stage-three breast cancer. She created Bike for Boobs with her husband, Andy Hanshaw, executive director of the San Diego County Bike Coalition, to combine their forces and truly make a difference.
Sandy Hanshaw said she’s “just glad to have the opportunity to have a business where I can give back through it. It means a lot to us.”
One in eight women are diagnosed with breast cancer during their lives.
The Breast Cancer Fund works to prevent breast cancer by eliminating exposure to toxic chemicals and radiation linked to the disease. The organization points out there is a growing body of scientific evidence linking breast cancer and environmental exposures into public education and advocacy campaigns that protect our health and reduce breast cancer risk.
Hanshaw said the Breast Cancer Fund was selected as the beneficiary of their cycling fundraiser because “we wanted a smaller organization, one that really targets the environmental factors that impact humans causing cancer.”
The Wine Pub owner pointed out carcinogenic chemicals exist all around us.
“They’re in everything from the cosmetics women use to dry cleaning to the air we breathe,” Sandy Hanshaw said, adding, “Unfortunately, we put them on our bodies and it does a lot of bad stuff to ourselves.”
That’s how her family’s involvement started and where the inspiration for Bike for Boobs came from. Popularizing the anti-breast cancer cause was aided by the fact that Andy Hanshaw, being executive director of the San Diego Bike Coalition, an advocacy organization that helps make biking safer and more accessible, is well connected in the cycling community.
“It was my husband who decided to start the bike ride to raise money for a cancer beneficiary,” Sandy said. “It started out two years ago, and now we’re into our third year.”
The Hanshaws said their intent is to grow the fundraising cancer bike ride beyond its current boundaries.
“We had about 60 people last year, and we’re hoping to get 80 to 100 this year,” Sandy said, promising “it’s a casual ride, not too strenuous, and a fun event.”
She added the after-party is also a hoot. “We have beer and wine, food and a silent auction out on the Wine Pub patio,” Sandy said, adding, “I want us to outgrow the patio this year, and have to use the parking lot behind us next year.”
A wine bar and restaurant in Point Loma, Sandy said The Wine Pub has evolved during its six years in existence.
“We started out truly as a wine bar with a small food menu,” Sandy said. “We turned that into offering much more homemade, American comfort food made from scratch. That part of the business has grown a lot.”
Hanshaw added The Wine Pub specializes in New World and domestic wines. For more information, visit www.thewinepubsd.com.
Discussion about this post