Biking For Dollars
Local student logs miles for local family

By Lauren Kirschman

Sonny Pinto has spent two years studying at Robert Morris University, but he knows there are lessons that can't be taught in a classroom. In fact, he'll tell you that the most important lessons he's learned were taught by children.

Since 2006, Pinto has helped raise money for families with sick or injured children through 352 miles of charity runs and bike rides. Those children, he said, taught him the most significant life lessons: to be happy, courageous and strong.

"I do it because of the things I learn from the kids," Pinto said. "They all taught me these lessons in different ways, but in the same way. They are probably the strongest people I've ever met in my life. They wake up everyday and are able to smile."

In May, Pinto biked 300 miles from West Newton to Washington D.C. to raise money for the Huey's, a family he discovered through a local Catholic charity, but doesn't know personally.

In 2009, 13-year-old Nash Huey was diagnosed with an aggressive type of cancer called alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. A month later, Nash's father, Barry, was told he had Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma. With Barry unable to work and denied disability, medical costs began growing at an alarming rate.

That's when Pinto stepped in. On May 22, he set off on his journey, riding over 60 miles on most days, and arrived in Washington, D.C. on May 26.

It rained the entire first day of the ride, Pinto said, but the weather helped him learn another life lesson, this one from Nash and the Huey family: perseverance.

"I just thought about how if this kid can persevere through cancer at the age of 13, a little rain shouldn't stop me from riding a bike," he said. "I guess that's my fourth lesson."

Pinto raised more than $2,000 so far and is still accepting donations.

He said he started organizing the charity events because of a book he read in high school, about a man who ran marathons in order to save the lives of children by getting them organ transplants.

"I couldn't do something that big just by myself, but it made me want to help people," Pinto said. "I started by running… this way, I could do something with my running instead of running for my own personal gain."

He took his first trip in 2006, a 22-mile run to help with the medical expenses for two family friends: Gabby, an 8-year-old girl struggling through what doctors believed to be lupus and Reid, a 17-month old boy who was born completely deaf.

In 2007, Pinto—who runs track and cross country at Robert Morris—ran 15 miles and biked 15 miles to benefit Carlee, a five-year-old girl who was severely disfigured in an automobile accident.

Pinto raised over $7,500 for the families.

There was a time when Pinto said he was "just a kid doing something I liked to do," but after he delivered a donation for the first time, the family's reaction put his actions into perspective.

"When you see the way they look at you and smile… it makes you realize that you're doing the right thing," he said. "You can make a difference just by getting on a bike and riding a few miles. It's the most important thing I do year in and year out."