This week’s Hometown Hero, presented by Hendrick Southpoint, is Cole Malinchock from Chapel Hill High School.

Malinchock has volunteered for PORCH, done service projects with the Boy Scouts, but this summer he undertook a massive project: biking across the country for charity. He was inspired by his brother, Wes, who did it in a previous year.

“I saw him finish,” he said, “and that was probably something I’ll never forget. I was like, at that moment, I was like, I got to do this.”

This summer, in the midst of a pandemic, he did it with eight other Scouts: Sean Hankins, Max Hird, Blake Hird, Wyatt Benjamin, Daniel Price, Daniel Gulisano, Hugh Carbrey, and Ryan Murphy. The group rode 3,300 miles across the country in 58 days, from the Atlantic all the way to the Pacific.

“It’s really hard to put in words, but I have to say it just felt so accomplishing and so relieving to know that you just biked across the country,” Malinchock said. “[It’s] something I’ve always dreamed of since my seeing my brother do it and just do it myself really felt like I completed something.”

The ride was called Bike Loud, raising funds for the Be Loud Sophie Foundation. The group raised thousands of dollars and got to set the incredible generosity and spirit of American companies.

“When we went to our Bowerston, Ohio, the woman who owned the restaurant there, it was the only restaurant in town. She found us a camping spot to stay at in a park because she knew the mayor. And then right before we went to bed, some stranger walked up to us and is like, he heard what we were doing and what the cause was for him. He’s like, all right, I’ll make you breakfast at five in the morning. I was like, alright. So the next morning he made us eggs, cereal. Really, it’s just the sweetness of people’s hearts just really shocked me. It gives you kind of like a sense of hope.”

The Be Loud Sophie foundation was founded by the Steiner family in honor of their daughter, Sophie, who died of cancer, but not before launching a campaign to provide support for adolescent and young adult cancer patients at UNC Hospitals.

“Every penny goes directly to a social worker who works directly with the kids at the UNC Hospital and helps them, supports them every second through their process.”

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