A Million Miles for Charity, River Edge Man Pedals On

He's been to the moon and back on his bicycle three times, still River Edge's Freddie Hoffman bikes on for charity. According to a report in The Daily Journal, an Illinois publication, Hoffman stopped in the Kankakee County area on his way back home to New Jersey from Canon City, Colorado. It was Hoffman's sixth visit to Kankakee County. 

For the last 40 years, Hoffman has rode nearly 1.5 million miles raising more than $1.1 million for leukemia and other charities such as Boys Town in Omaha, Nebraska where he stopped to pay a visit. 

For Hoffman, 54, left with brain damage at birth due to a cesarean procedure which cut oxygen to his brain, biking became an isolated way of life when he was very young. 

Hoffman began bicycling to raise money for leukemia research after his mother was diagnosed with it in 1977. “Her entire family back several generations all died of leukemia or other types of blood cancer,” Hoffman told The Daily Journal. He said that being one of the first beneficiaries of experimental chemotherapy, his mother lived an additional 19 years. He also raises money for Alzheimer's research--a disease that afflicted his father--and for diabetes, for which he received a diagnosis a few years ago. 

But what brought Hoffman to bicycling? 

“I had to find something I could do by myself and not depend on others," Hoffman told The Daily Journal. "The whole thing started as a way to give myself a sense of self value and self esteem. I didn’t have the ability to excel in other things, like basketball or football. ... What is interesting for me now is I travel alone for months with no support caravan or entourage.” 

Hoffman is his own support crew out on the road with his bicycle. He takes along emergency items like spare tools and first aid kits. Along the way he stays at Mom and Pop motels or with friends.

According to The Daily Journal, Hoffman has completed 38 long-distance trips and has rode his bike through all 48 contiguous states. During his travels he’s met approximately 80 governors, visiting 30 governor’s mansions and staying overnight at the governors mansions of Jeb Bush, Mike Johanns, Tom Vilsack and Jesse Ventura. 

Hoffman has about 5,000 supporters in New Jersey, including 840 businesses. He is employed as a part-time janitor at a church and daycare where he makes approximately $9,000 a year. Among his donors are two doctors and two chiropractors who treat him whenever he is in need because he does not have health insurance. According to the report, when Hoffman was hospitalized with a diabetic bout, the River Edge Mayor and Council organized a fundraiser to help him pay the $14,000 hospital bill.

In June, Paramus Mayor Richard LaBarbiera invited Hoffman to a Paramus Mayor and Council meeting where the mayor presented him with a certificate of commendation in preparation for his 35th ride across the country. 

LaBarbiera told Patch, “Freddie does not have a support team. He does not have a van that follows him. He has four suitcases attached to his front wheel and his back wheel. It’s truly an amazing story, a story that one day might be in movies.”