Nicola Butler

At the beginning of the year when Cianne passed away it was a serious shock to my system. Every day after her funeral seemed to get sadder and sadder and I knew it would just be a downward spiral if I didn't turn it into something positive soon.

Back in April, I put all my time, resources, and overflowing emotion into creating a raffle that raised money for the Orlando Chapter of Cystic Fibrosis. At the time is was just for the sake of doing something, anything, to keep her close to me. Now I realize just how many others are still fighting and need the support more than ever.

Thanks to the overwhelming industry support and generous donators the raffle was a huge success and I raised around $10, 632.

After some further meetings with the foundation, we discovered that this is only the beginning of what we can do in her memory. Together we made my vision become a reality and RideforCi was born. It is still in it's very early stages but I basically wanted to create a place where people can constantly donate to the CF foundation in her memory. I also want to work on some clinics and events further down the line.

I am excited to announce that I am teaming up with Dano the Mano (Announcer of Professional Wakeboarding's "King of Wake" series) and Duncan Toys this summer. Duncan Toys has graciously donated 1000 yo-yo's to be sold throughout the 2013 season with 100% of the proceeds supporting CF and the Ride For Ci campaign.

These yo-yo's are a fun way to get the name out and they are especially meaningful to me as I hand drew the artwork for them :)