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COVID-19 didn’t stop members of the Deer Lake Harley Owners Group (HOG) from gathering on their motorcycles and in their cars at Schaeffer’s Harley-Davidson in Orwigsburg in September to experience the thrill of the grill.
The annual fall fundraiser for the Lehigh Valley Hospital–Schuylkill (LVH–S) Cancer Center’s Gentle Yoga program is typically a spaghetti dinner and basket raffle held in the dealership’s conference room. But this year, it was a fun bike night. Deer Lake HOG members gathered at a safe social distance outside the
dealership on their motorcycles or in their cars for burgers, fries, mozzarella sticks, chicken sandwiches, turkey burgers and hot dogs, and participated in a basket raffle.
“We’ve all been touched by cancer in some way, and we’re committed to funding the Gentle Yoga program,” says Cherie Schaeffer-Bogotuik, the controller at Schaeffer’s Harley-Davidson. Now in its 12th year, the Schaeffer’s Harley-Davidson fundraiser has raised nearly $39,000 for the yoga program.
“Yoga is wonderful for people with cancer because any kind of gentle movement helps with joint stiffness and numbness,” says Michele D’Agostino, yoga instructor at the LVH–S Gentle Yoga program since it began in 2009. “But the most important thing about our class is the sense of community and support it provides and the breathing relaxation techniques people learn that can help them manage their anxiety and fear throughout treatment.”
“Working with your breath to manage anxiety and fear is medicine you can access anytime because it’s always with you,” she says.
Gentle Yoga classes are free. Although classes are temporarily on hold because of COVID-19, they’re usually held every Thursday at 6:15 p.m. in the McCloskey Center, 420 S. Jackson Street, in Pottsville.