MONROE — During the Green County Fair, Dave Schlabowske, the deputy director for Wisconsin Bike Federation, made his way to Monroe to accept a Friend of 4-H award from the Green County 4-H after the group held a rest stop for Ride Across Wisconsin.

Schlabowke, in return, presented the 4-H group with a check for $3,000.

“Each year we have asked our riders to donate to 4-H as a small thank you to all the family farms we ride by on the Ride Across Wisconsin,” Schlabowske said in a blog post on wisconsinbikefed.org. “The Bike Fed then matches those donations with profits from the ride.”

Ride Across Wisconsin was started as a fundraiser for the Wisconsin Bike Federation, according to Schlabowske. Wisconsin Bike Fed uses that revenue to respond to requests to help requests from communities for bicycle safety and questions about bike lanes, trails and infrastructure around the state.

“While our lean organization leverages every penny of profit from Ride Across Wisconsin, we want to use the ride to build relationships with people who live in the communities we pass through, but who might not be cyclists,” Schlabowske said in the blog post. “We are also grateful to the farmers who host our rest stops, like Jean and Kerry Holland on the Holland Fairy Farm in Gratiot.”

Registration for Ride Across Wisconsin closes July 31, and those interested in joining as an individual or an organization should visit the Wisconsin Bike Federation website at www.bfw.org.