The Fort Lee Education Foundation, created about a year and a half ago, awards scholarships to students and grants to district teachers who apply for funding for various projects.

Participants in the Second Tour de Fort Lee will complete a 6-mile loop around the borough twice. There will be three groups of riders, for experienced riders, leisure riders and families.

Michael Villano, a former borough councilman active with the foundation, said the group got the idea for the bike tour after hearing about a similar event in Elizabeth .

The Fort Lee foundation is hoping for 300 riders in the second year of the event.

"It's a bunch of former Fort Lee High School students trying to give back to the community," said Villano, who taught high school social studies for 30 years. "We just want to enhance the educational experience of all the students."

Registration will begin at 7 :30 a.m. and the tour will begin at 9 a.m. The fee for registration is $15 per individual or $10 per person for families. Helmets are required and the event will be held rain or shine.

The tour is not a race. Participants will be asked not to go ahead of police cars that will drive in front of the groups. Raffles will be held at the end of the tour

"We're going to have fun," Villano said. "I think it's going to be a fun day and it's a nice Fort Lee event."

In this era of rising educational costs, it is becoming increasingly difficult to provide “outside the box” types of cultural, scientific, mathematical and technological programs for our students. As a result, members of the Fort Lee community, including several Fort Lee School district alumni have joined with other corporate, civic, education, and parent leaders of Fort Lee to create the Fort Lee Education Foundation (FLEF). Its purpose is to raise funds for innovative programs, needed equipment and other projects for the students of Fort Lee.
In order to raise funds, the FLEF is launching an annual 12 mile bicycle tour called the a “Tour de Fort Lee” on Sunday, October 7, 2007. Registration begins at 7:30 AM at the Community Center on Inwood Terrace and the race will begin at 9:00 AM. Everyone is invited to register or just enjoy the cyclists as they “tour” beautiful and historic Fort Lee. A raffle ticket will be given with each registration and music, beverages and entertainment will be available after the “Tour”. This is a wonderful opportunity for people who live in or out of Fort Lee to enjoy a wonderful day in our beautiful borough and help provide great programs for the students of Fort Lee. We hope you will join us!

For more information, please call Tony at 201-638-5294 or Mike at 201-951-7107 or
visit us at http://www.fortleeeducationfoundation.org, or WWW.FLEFNJ.ORG