Meet Cascade’s 2026 Volunteers of the Year

As the Volunteer Manager for Cascade, I get to work with hundreds of volunteers each year who help bring to life our mission of “bringing people together to experience the joy of bicycling through transportation, recreation, and friendship.”

From assembling bikes to pedaling youth across the finish line at STP, volunteers make our work possible. They help us teach more people to ride, deliver groceries by bike, mentor students and advocate for safer streets. Volunteers also find a welcoming, fun-loving community of people who love bikes as much as they do.

If you have time to give, we’d love to hear from you. We need all kinds of skills: bike mechanics, route markers, support drivers, event photographers, youth mentors, packet stuffers, grocery rescue riders, and more.

Cascade Bicycle Club's 2026 Volunteers of the Year

Our 2026 Volunteers of the Year come from many Cascade programs, but they share a desire to lift others up and help more people discover the joy of riding a bike.

Nick Floros, Let's Go bike education

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Why Nick is this year’s Volunteer of the Year:

For the second year in a row, Nick has been selected as the Let’s Go Volunteer of the Year! Nick is usually the first person to respond to our “bat signals” for help with Let's Go bike maintenance and assembly parties. He works consistently and is always cheerful and social. He's reliable and a joy to work with. Nick also built a large number of our Bicycle Education Program bikes during our busy season, which was really appreciated!

Why I volunteer at Cascade

I volunteer at Cascade to learn about bike maintenance while assembling and servicing bikes for Cascade's Let's Go in-class bike education program and the Major Taylor Project. Every volunteer's work is quality/safety checked and Cascade's mechanics tell us if we missed something and explain how to do the work correctly. It's helped me become a better amateur bike mechanic. I also love route marking for Cascade's events to give bike riders the confidence to take on a challenging ride in a potentially unfamiliar area and find their way to the finish line. One of my highlights of the year is volunteering for the Major Taylor Project riders at STP and seeing the teenagers work together and support one another to complete the ride.

Nate Smith, Cascade Tours

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Why Nate is this year’s Volunteer of the Year:

Nate's level of organization and preparedness, his love for a new gadget or process, and his flexibility improves the quality of our Tours. Nate spends his free time investigating new route marking materials and he takes a lot of pride in his Support Driver kit. He makes excellent recommendations for improving road support for future rides. He’s an incredibly fun, outgoing and collaborative volunteer in many of our rides, but especially during Cascade Tours.
  
Why I volunteer at Cascade

I started volunteering with Cascade for the motivation to get out and ride more myself, and I’ve stayed because it’s so much fun helping others and seeing new places. Every Tour feels like a mini vacation. I have plenty of favorite memories, but a few stand out: meeting everyone on my first Port Townsend Tour (and the lightning storm that came with it), spotting a moose on my first Lake Chelan Tour, and being rescued by a local with a leaf blower on the Walla Walla Tour. I’ve also had the chance to return the favor, like transporting home two riders at the end of RSVP who had bought train tickets for themselves and their bikes without realizing the tickets were for Vancouver, Wash. rather than B.C.!

Adam Sanders, Major Taylor Project - Tacoma/Pierce County

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Why Adam is this year’s Volunteer of the Year

A consistent face at First Creek middle school in Tacoma, Adam went above and beyond by providing support to older students. Adam not only assisted in training high school students for STP, but rode the entire event alongside them!

Why I volunteer at Cascade

I volunteer with Cascade because I love cycling and want to share that joy with others, especially students. It matters to me that young people see themselves represented in this community and know they belong. Some of my favorite memories are the STP training rides and meeting people from other sites around Seattle, but one moment I'll never forget is taking the ferry from Vashon to Seattle on the Ride for Major Taylor and seeing hundreds of bikes lined up across the deck. Cycling brings people together, and I'm grateful to be part of it. 

Phil Singer, Major Taylor Project - King County

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Why Phil is this year’s Volunteer of the Year

Phil has been a steady volunteer for several years! This year, he supported our weekly club at Garfield High School from September to June. He supported students on Ride for Major Taylor, Flying Wheels, and weekends in May and June to prepare students for STP. Phil shows up ready to help, he offers insightful ideas and is always ready to support our youth. His consistency and presence is invaluable and greatly contributed to our successful year!

Why I volunteer at Cascade

The reason I volunteer with MTP is to see high school students succeed in achieving their goals: either riding their bike around the neighborhood or riding their bike from Seattle to Portland. One of many good memories is riding STP with MTP last year. One of the Tacoma students (in the picture above) rode with his older brother and wanted to cross the finish line with his brother. Another volunteer and I rode with the two brothers for a long hot stretch of Highway 30. We then rode in the van to the start of the St. Johns Bridge to enter Portland and ride to the finish line as a group. When we got out of the van to ride over the bridge, the student told Matt and me that he was nervous to ride across the bridge. We said we’d be on the roadway the whole way, and he’d be OK if he looked straight ahead. He rode across the bridge and was fine. Until I saw this picture I didn’t realize that he had a big smile as he rode down the bridge. The brothers crossed the finish line in Portland together. Crossing the finish line is always an emotional experience.

Peter Breyfogle, Advocacy & Outreach

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Why Peter is this year’s Volunteer of the Year

Peter is a longtime champion of the Burke-Gilman trail and an advocate for improving and maintaining the Burke-Gilman, especially in Northeast Seattle. Peter has made shirts, hosted events and kept the Burke-Gilman maintenance issues on people's minds!

Why I volunteer at Cascade

Bicycling has been a lifelong hobby of mine that is shared by family. We have enjoyed countless rides and adventures in many parts of the United States and New Zealand. My proudest moment in my advocacy efforts was organizing and leading the Burke-Gilman Trail 55th Anniversary of the Hike-In Celebration. For 20 years, I have been an advocate for cyclists and bicycle infrastructure, serving as a League of American Bicyclists Certified Instructor and a 10-year board member with BikeMN.org.

J Hanson, Major Rides & Events

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Why J is this year’s Volunteer of the Year

J is ALWAYS stepping up to help! J has led various event packet pickups and finish lines, and he's a consistent volunteer at evening packet stuffings, loading and unloading, and more. J shows up with a great attitude and helps train other volunteers, teaching them to take the lead when asked. Working alongside him at most of the events has been a highlight of the season for many staff.

Why I volunteer at Cascade

I started volunteering with Cascade because I love to ride and wanted to give back to the events I enjoy so much, and somewhere between stuffing packets and cheering at the start line, I picked up a few great friends I now see off the bike, too. I'm a helper by nature, so the morning-of packet rush is basically my happy place: fast-paced, a little chaotic, and full of riders who are thrilled to be there. My favorite memory is this year's STP, where I got to work in the call and dispatch center. It was organized chaos at its finest, and I loved every minute of it. I keep coming back for the people and the community, and because I'd love to see biking become an everyday thing for more people, on streets built to welcome them.

Marcella Medearis, Major Rides & Events

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Why Marcella is this year’s Volunteer of the Year

Over the course of the past two years, Marcella has elevated Cascade’s rides and events through her creativity and leadership, crafting decorations for Revel Revolution Ride, stewarding a relationship with her local Trek shop, and fabricating the RSVP photo booth. Marcella most frequently supported rides through packet stuffing, start line support and rest stop facilitation. Marcella models the example that biking and serving can be a family activity, encouraging her son, Trevor, to volunteer alongside her. He does excellent sidewalk chalk art.

Why I volunteer at Cascade 

I started volunteering at rides because my husband was biking them and I fell in love with the community. Three seasons later and still going strong.

Dawn Hemminger, Pedaling Relief Project

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Why Dawn is this year’s Volunteer of the Year

A past recipient of Volunteer of the Year, Dawn earns her spot once again with consistent leadership, training of new volunteers at University District Food Bank, and her weekly communications to increasingly larger numbers of Pedalling Relief Project volunteers. That weekly email is invaluable for maintaining ridership, ensuring all volunteers and leads are on the same page, and maintaining capacity for in-home grocery deliveries.

Why I volunteer at Cascade

I started volunteering with the Pedaling Relief Project in spring 2020, right at the beginning of COVID. I was feeling isolated and craving connection, and I knew others in my community were struggling too — unable to leave home to get the food they needed. Delivering groceries by bike let me support my neighbors while doing something I love, and I've volunteered on the Saturday U District Food Bank shift ever since, eventually becoming a co-lead. My favorite memory is a brutal, icy, freezing morning a few years back when we still had a huge turnout. Afterward we all gathered around the fire pit at Armistice coffee shop to warm up and celebrate a job well done. That kind of commitment is what inspires me most: volunteers who show up nearly every Saturday no matter the weather, whether it's snow, rain, or wildfire smoke, pitching in to pack groceries, onboard newcomers, pump up tires, or hook up trailers. Together we've built a supportive community that I know will stay strong long after I'm gone.

Matt McTee, Development & Membership

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Why Matt is this year’s Volunteer of the Year

Not only has Matt been instrumental in the establishment and significant growth of our grocery rescue ride in Bellevue, but Matt proved himself an incredible partner to the Development Department in collaborating on a grant and public comment project in support of a grant application to the City of Kirkland. Matt presented public comment to the City of Kirkland Human Services Commission at the end of August, putting himself on the line for Cascade in an uncommonly generous and helpful way.

Why I volunteer at Cascade

I volunteer with Cascade because riding with the Pedaling Relief Project lets me combine two things I care about: cycling and helping make sure good food reaches people in our community. One of my favorite parts is the camaraderie of our weekly rides: seeing volunteers show up, work together, and know that the food we deliver will make a difference. I was glad to help Roland and Cascade’s Development team shape the case for a $10,000 Kirkland grant to build capacity for the Pedaling Relief Project. As a Kirkland resident and PRP volunteer, I spoke to the City Council about how the program connects food rescue, volunteer riders, and local community need, an effort that moves roughly 900 pounds of food each week on the Eastside.

Andy Williams, Free Group Rides

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Why Andy is this year’s Volunteer of the Year

I've volunteered for Cascade for over 20 years to be a part of the bicycling community and share the joy. Favorite volunteer memories include helping with the Getting Ready to Ride Series and Cascade Training Series.

Why I volunteer at Cascade

Andy has been a dedicated volunteer on the Free Group Ride Program for many years. Since 2019, he's been a ride approver, often approving more rides than any other approver, tedious work that helps the quality of our rides and supports our Ride Leaders. He also has served as the Ride Leader Certification Coordinator, supporting Ride Leaders through their training and tracking their milestones. Andy's willingness to take on gritty, detailed work that often goes unnoticed has kept the Free Group Rides program moving forward.

Patrick Allen, Outrider & Medical Riders

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Why Patrick is this year’s Volunteer of the Year

Patrick participates in nearly all of the Major Rides and the pre-ride route reviews, in addition to having all the skills and right tools for nearly every mechanical issue a cyclist could encounter. Patrick is a fantastic cyclist and a huge asset to the Outrider Program. He's always helpful, cheerful, humorous, energetic and a joy to volunteer with and ride alongside!

Why I volunteer at Cascade

I was recruited as an Outrider after my first RSVP in 2023. I was excited about the opportunity of giving back and helping out on the large organized Cascade rides that I’ve enjoyed for the past 20 years. I knew I wanted to get more involved as an Outrider when I retired from work at the end of the 2025 season. My approach as an Outrider has been: what more can I do? This was especially true of the 2026 season. In addition to routine Outrider activities, I got involved with the Outrider Steering Committee, I completed CPR and wilderness first aid training, worked in the operations center, helped pack Outrider supply boxes, and was an instructor for the CTS fix-a-flat workshop.

Nathan Whiting, Marketing & Communications

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Why Nathan is this year’s Volunteer of the Year

Nathan is a new volunteer photographer this year but has already proven his dedication to the craft. Photographing more rides than any other volunteer in 2026, his pictures capture the spirit of our rides - the camaraderie, the smiles, and the shared joy of cycling. Nathan's ability to tell a story through photos has been an invaluable addition to the Marketing & Communications team.

Why I volunteer at Cascade

I initially started volunteering as a photographer with Cascade as an excuse to go on rides and as an opportunity to build a portfolio. As I started going on rides I began connecting with so many people over cycling and photography. My favorite memory from my time as a volunteer would have to be seeing the frog rock for the first time on my first volunteer ride, Chilly Hilly.