The idea to begin fund raising events to benefit Cystic Fibrosis began soon after the diagnosis of a family friend's daughter (Tiffani) in 2006. I wanted to do something to support Tiffani, the DiNicola's and anyone living with CF. I called upon my love for motorcycles and my husband's love for playing cards, and put together a bike ride/poker run.

The idea grew and we grew.

I told friends about my plans for the ride and many said, "what can I do to help." I Love these people. Some said, "you know what else we can do?" I Love those people.

We started adding events that were non Ride events and as we did that we needed to have another name to put those events under, so, we came up with CF Friends.

We had a jeans party  where 80% of the proceeds went directly to CFF.

A jewelry design team Jewelry by Us run by Eddie and Barb designed a Tiffani bracelet and donated a percentage to CFF. They also held Jewelry by Us parties in friends homes and they donated 30% of the evening’s proceeds to CFF.

Big League Wiffle Ball said they wanted to help and together with the North Haven Sports Complex, we held a wiffle ball tournament with the proceeds going to CFF.

Old Glory Gift Boutiques in Old Saybrook, Middletown and North Haven sold paper Roses and hung them around their stores to raise money, show support, and raise awareness. They were also two of our hosts on the Ride for the Roses.

I received an email from an incredible person who donated a custom chopper built by Gerry Covington for us to raffle.

Now that we had a motorcycle raffle we needed an event to pull the winning ticket at so, the Biker Bash Christmas Party was born. All the proceeds went to CFF from the raffle and the Bash.

It has been a busy year for CF Friends and Ride for the Roses, we worked hard, we raised a lot of money, met so many wonderful people and we had fun in the process.

We look forward to the events that lie ahead.