Remembering Sara as Registration Opens for 30th Ride for Missing Children

The biggest fundraiser for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children will commemorate an anniversary this year, as the Mohawk Valley region vows to never forget the tragic abduction and murder of a young local girl whose name became synonymous with a massive effort to find and save missing and exploited children.

Registration is now open for the 30th annual Ride for Missing and Exploited Children – Mohawk Valley, set for Friday, June 5, 2026, and reaching that milestone feels significant — not just because of the number, but because of why this ride exists in the first place.

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The event is a one-day, roughly 80-mile bicycle journey through Central New York, stopping at local schools along the way to deliver safety education to thousands of kids. Participation is capped at 500 riders each year, and there’s a waiting list that’s far longer than the handful of cyclists who took part in the very first ride decades ago.

Most of today’s riders never met Sara Anne Wood. But every single one of them rides because of her.

On August 18, 1993, Sara — just 12 years old — left church in Litchfield, NY (in Frankfort) and started riding her bike home. She was wearing teal and pink. She never arrived. Sara was abducted near her Litchfield home and later murdered. Her killer confessed, but her body has never been found. The search continues.

Out of that unimaginable loss came something powerful.

In 1995, a small group of local cyclists decided to do something — anything — to make sure Sara wasn’t forgotten. That group, including longtime rider Dick Jordan, rode hundreds of miles from Utica to Washington, D.C. on National Missing Children’s Day to raise awareness. What started as a ride became a movement. The Sara Anne Wood Rescue Center was born, eventually becoming the Mohawk Valley office of NCMEC’s New York branch.

Since then, Sara’s legacy has helped bring more than 7,500 missing children home through targeted poster distribution and education efforts. One child’s story changed everything.

You still see it today — in The Ride’s teal and pink jerseys honoring Sara, white for all missing children, and purple recognizing law enforcement, who never stopped looking.

New this year, The Ride kicks off its 2026 season with a rider and volunteer meeting on February 18 at the Utica American Legion Post 229, where organizers will outline route updates, logistics, and hear from a guest who’ll explain why this ride matters to them personally.

Thirty years later, The Ride remains what it’s always been — a promise. To remember Sara. To protect kids. And to keep moving forward.

More information and registration details are available at www.rfmc-mv.org.