Soon, Mac Dorris gets to experience a yearly tradition that is one of his favorite every year. Surrounded by hundreds of fellow avid cyclists and thousands of citizens overall, he and everybody else gets to experience a weekend-long party fueled by fun and community building.
The festivities take place in New Paltz the weekend of June 27-28. It’s an event that breeds no shortage of hope and optimism for all involved. However, the origins start from one of the most tragic moments in Dorris’ life.
The CEO and founder of The Ride For Mental Health, the two-day cycling event meant to raise funds and awareness for mental health advocacy groups and local businesses alike in the Hudson Valley, Dorris is preparing for the 10th-annual ride in what has become one of the foundational tasks in his life. While Dorris wishes he had ventured into the realm of charity-driven event planning far earlier than its inception, the ultimate message in the ride continues to drive him to make the event bigger and better every single year.
The origin of the event comes from a deeply personal loss for Dorris and his family. On January 8, 2016, Eric Dorris was an outpatient at McLean Hospital near Boston when he died of an accidental drug overdose on Jan. 8, 2016. He was 21 years old. Eric Dorris had borderline personality disorder and depression, and was living in a supervised sober house near the hospital campus.
Although Eric ultimately lost his battle, Mac forever holds on to the fond memories of his son. A passionate individual with a litany of different interests that ranged from cooking to extreme fashion, Eric was a shining light for the Dorris family with a bright future before the struggles really took over.
“At one point, I think he was just watching the Food Network non-stop for two years. He’d start making crab cakes over an arugula salad with vinaigrette dressing type of thing when we was just 12 years old,” Dorris said. “He’d always make so much food that I’d have to take stuff into the office on Monday because we’d have too much food.”
A smart and knowledgable person, Eric was accepted into various schools, with the Fashion Institute of Technology and New York University among those he attended. Due to the mental health battles and other substance-abuse issues, though, he did not last very long at each stop.
Eventually Dorris and his family were able to get Eric treatment at McLean Hospital outside Boston with hopes that therapy and other treatments could help his son. Despite the efforts, the help ultimately wasn’t enough.
“Our family was devastated because we thought he was in a good spot.” Dorris said, noting that McLean was one of the top institutions in the nation for treating borderline personality disorder and other mental disorders.
Grieving as a family and an individual, Mac quickly figured that he wanted to help out in any causes regarding mental health advocacy following the tragic event. An avid cyclist for decades, he wanted to look towards that passion to help out.
Dorris scoured the internet looking for mental health rides and any bike-related activities that help spread awareness. While there are countless events that provided worthwhile work in terms of that awareness factor for mental health, there was a shockingly low number when it came to cycling events. He knew that he wanted to change that.
“Between the fact that I was nearing the end of my legal career and kind of wondering what to do next, but I knew I wanted to work, I kind’ve felt like it was time to give back,” he said. Dorris had worked as a finance lawyer, but felt he hadn’t ventured into stepping out to help communities in a physical way. “Here was a way to be able to help continue to keep Eric going in an odd way and I guess to grieve. My way of dealing with grief was ‘let’s make this bicycle ride in Eric’s honor and we’ll try to make it a huge thing for the rest of my life.'”
After months of planning and pitching the idea to different sponsors and other contributors, The Ride for Mental Health was born in 2017. Raising hundreds of thousands of dollars and garnering increasing participants every year since, this new mission has become paramount to Dorris’ life.
He joked that in his mind, he truly believes that he can continue to build the event to have thousands of riders congregate to New Paltz every single year and make it one of the premier mental health events, not just bicycle rides, in the entire country.
Now going on its 10th annual event, the dream and dedication only grows stronger with more and more people pledging their help to create the best atmosphere possible.
Originating just from a father and family looking to properly grieve the lost of a son, the kindness and support from people around the entire country isn’t lost on Dorris. The Ride for Mental Health is in memory of Eric, but it’s also created a whole new concept of family and community for Mac.
“It’s unbelievable. These people don’t make any money for doing it. It’s not their family, it’s my family that lost Eric,” Dorris said, tearing up. “They put in so much effort and so much time.”
The pain of the loss of a child won’t ever fully go away for Dorris and his family. If there’s any solace, however, creating and continuing The Ride for Mental Health will allow Eric’s legacy to go on while also supporting anyone else who may be enduring the same hardships.
If you or anyone you know may be struggling with mental health battles, call the national hotline 1-800-662-HELP (4357) for help and assistance.
This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Mac Dorris uses personal tragedy to drive Ride for Mental Health
Reporting by Eric Decker, Poughkeepsie Journal / Poughkeepsie Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Eric Decker, Poughkeepsie Journal | USA TODAY Network
