Craven was honored for his work on the annual Ricky Craven Charity Snowmobile Ride, held each January here in Greenville. In its six years of existance, the ride has generated more than half a million dollars, which has been distributed among a number of charitable organizations, including The Marrow Foundation, the Children’s Miracle Network, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Travis Roy Foundation and Give Kids the World.

“I am extremely honored by this recognition,” Craven said. “But there’s a lot of people I want to share it with. I want to give credit to everyone who has assisted us with the charity ride these past six years. It takes a lot of people giving of their time, energy and money to make the ride a success. This award really should go to all the volunteers who have helped us so selflessly, to my family and friends, and to the drivers and all the race fans who’ve helped us raise money for these wonderful charities,” he added.

In addition to the award, Craven was presented with a prize of $100,000, which was supposedly to be divided evenly between the driver and the charity or charities of his choice. Craven immediately donated his half of the prize money to those charities he supports through the snowmobile charity ride.

Craven said plans are well underway for the Seventh Annual Ricky Craven Charity Snowmobile Ride, which will be held on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2004 in Greenville. “The event keeps getting bigger and bigger every year,” Craven said. “I think this year’s ride will be the best ever. I’m very lucky to be associated with so many great people, and I’m honored to be able to use my position as a driver to help people. It’s definately one of the neatest parts of my job,” Craven said with a smile.
"This content originally appeared as a copyrighted article in the Moosehead Messenger and is used here with permission."