Tour de Friends: Motive, Make-A-Wish, and the Two-Day Bike Ride

This month, 18 of our colleagues here at Motive Studio will be packing up their bikes, suiting up in their flashiest cycling kit, and joining a couple of thousand new friends for a very special ride. On the morning of Friday, September 19, they’ll hit the track, a twisting course laid out on the tarmac of Montréal-Mirabel International Airport. And on the morning of Sunday, September 21, they’ll…still be on the track! 

This is the 18th annual Make-A-Wish 48-Hour Ride, in which teams of six take turns riding day and night, in sunshine or rain, for two solid days to help raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a charitable organization that helps fulfill the wishes of critically ill children. And for the third year in a row, Motive is showing up in force to support the program—and not just as riders.

HITTING THE TARMAC

When Motive first became involved in this event in 2023, it was largely thanks to the efforts of one team member: Stéphanie Kupiak, Senior Recruiter, Global Talent Acquisition. While fairly new to the studio at the time, she’d had years of experience with the event, and immediately recognized what a great fit it would be for Motive.

“I have a personal connection to Make-A-Wish,” Stéphanie says, “because I had a cousin who was diagnosed with leukemia at age 12. Thanks to the Foundation, she was able to fulfill her dream of drawing and publishing her own comic books! So I was able to see up close the impact a wish could have on a child. And this is a great way to raise funds to help make that happen. But I think the 48-Hour Ride is an amazing team activity as well. Trust me, cycling at 3 a.m. with a colleague creates a unique connection! So I proposed the event to the management team, and they immediately embraced it—they even joined the first event.”

“And it is such an amazing format for team-building,” Lead Level Designer Louis Rousseau says, ”because the event is larger than just a specific project here at Motive; you’re meeting people from everywhere at the studio. So it’s a perfect mix of team-building and helping out a good cause.”

“And the beauty of it is that everybody can go at their own pace,” says Principal Level Designer Vincent Ouillette, “and do whatever distance they can do. You just need to make sure someone on the team is always riding. So whatever your background or fitness level, everyone can come together and do this event.”

A key element of both a successful charity event and a successful team-building event is a sense of community, and here the 48-Hour Ride does not disappoint. Take the Village Zone, for example. 

“That’s where people come together and chill when they’re not riding,” Vincent says. “It’s a really festive area: Everybody decorates their little tents, people dance at night—people even organize concerts on the sides of the track!”

“I was surprised by how joyful it all was!” says Lead Level Designer Maryse Joseph. “I remember there was a group close to the starting line that was just having a wholesome party all day—every day, and all night long. It gives you a lot of energy to pass by that on your bike.” 

Of course, it’s not all a party. There have been soaking rains and flat tires, punctured air mattresses and a particularly open length of track known for “those f[reez]ing winds,” as Maryse didn’t quite put it. 

And then there are the hazards of sleep deprivation: “One year, after my night shift, I was so, so tired,” Stéphanie says. “So I went and had a shower, and then I brushed my teeth…except I mixed up my toothpaste with my mosquito cream. I can tell you, they do not taste the same.”

WORKING FOR GOOD

But knowing that it’s all in the service of helping brighten the lives of sick children makes it all worthwhile.

Of course, Make-A-Wish isn’t the only charitable organization Motive is involved with. “It’s a great example of how some charities are surfaced, though,” says Program Manager for Operations and Culture Julie Champagne. “We value when employees come to us with causes they’re passionate about. So that was a check: Stéphanie approached me and suggested we get involved. Then, we try to support an organization where we can engage personally, really help directly, in addition to providing financial support.”

“And helping to ensure social impact is embedded into our studio culture is literally part of my job” she continues. “I think that shows how seriously we take it, that we find it important enough to have someone who’s actively minding those partnerships. It speaks to our core values.” 

The specific partnerships speak to Motive’s values as well. Code MTL, for example, introduces preschool and elementary school students to programming. Gamerella champions aspiring and emerging game makers through friendly game events. Technovation Montréal helps young people leverage tech and entrepreneurial skills to solve problems in their communities, and Youth in Mind Foundation supports the mental health of adolescents. 

“We send mentors, we send people on juries, we send keynote speakers,” Julie says. “We try to encourage our people to really get on the field and share their talents and their knowledge. And it's not like we expect all these kids to become devs! We just want them to have access to tools that they wouldn’t necessarily have access to otherwise. The main question we ask is always just: ‘How can we help? What do you need?”

BUILDING ON SUCCESS

For Make-A-Wish and the 48-Hour Ride, the answer to “what do you need?” was pretty clear: riders and funds. So in addition to recruiting folks to ride, Julie and her team wanted to find novel ways to raise money beyond simply asking family and friends for donations.  

“‘Let’s do something fun with it,’” she recalls saying. “‘Instead of just sending money to register the team, let’s use that money to raise more money.’ And at that time we were launching the Dead Space remake, and the team had this kind of inside joke about ‘Dead Spice’; one of the devs even drew a logo, where they used chili peppers to recreate the Marker, an iconic element of the Dead Space franchise. And it started as a joke, but we said, ‘You know, we know someone who makes hot sauces!’ So we partnered with MTHELL, and we made two: Dead Spice and Dead Spicier. And then we sold those sauces to studio members to raise money and get them engaged. And it became a fun project where everyone pitched in.”

Things snowballed from there. “The next year, we wanted to do something else fun and different,” Julie says, “so we reached out to a local beverage company. At the time we had two games in development, so we made one drink per game.” 

Louis remembers this initiative well. “I joined Motive not long before last year’s ride,” he says, “and it involved a lot of people from my team that I’d come to know and grow fond of already. I didn’t ride then, but I had the opportunity to support them. So I did the right thing and donated to the cause.”

“We also did a waffle breakfast that year,” Maryse adds. “I thought that was really good. We set up a table in the cafeteria, and all the riders were there making waffles. That was an experience in itself, because we were creating connections between all of us already, and also meeting new people from around the studio.”

“And then this year,” explains Julie, “we partnered with a local coffee company called Café Pista to launch a special branded coffee. So we’re kind of always evolving, never doing the same thing twice. Our goal is to create something special and exclusive that our team members can enjoy.” 

“Yeah, there’s a lot of creativity involved around this event,” says Louis, “and not just the event itself, but the way we fundraise, and how it’s presented to the studio, and everything. You can tell everyone loves doing it.”

That enthusiasm has clearly rubbed off on participants and onlookers alike. For example, the first ride had one team of six sign up; the second year, that doubled to 12 employees total. This year, the riders welcome yet another team, for a total of 18. 

“When we ended the event last year,” Stéphanie says, “pretty much everyone was like, ‘OK, sign me up for next year.’ Almost all of the 12 participants from last year returned to ride this year. So, despite the long nights and sore muscles, we all leave the experience filled with pride and a sense of collaboration and encouragement, and people want to experience that again.”

Support off the track has snowballed as well over the past two years, with more of our colleagues getting involved not just in fundraising but also in contributing their time and expertise to things like designing labels for the bespoke products, or flyers for the events—or just showing up to the ride to cheer on the teams.

“I really feel like now it’s part of the culture of the company,” says Stéphanie. “Everyone is donating and supporting us, and coming to the event, and every time we do fundraising they’re all on board. ​​And it feels so good to feel supported by the company as well, who really take it seriously and want us to have the best experience.”

“With that company support,” says Maryse. “and with everyone donating and taking part in this event, I think it shows that helping others is part of who we are as a studio.”

“We care,” says Julie. “We truly do care. We’re not just about making the best games; we’re also about being the best neighbours. It drives everything that we do.”

YOUR TURN

Wondering how you can help Make-A-Wish make kids’ wishes come true? They offer a wide range of volunteer opportunities, including general volunteering, support for special events, and even helping grant wishes directly! And of course, money always helps; you can donate to the 48-Hour Ride, for example, or to the Make-A-Wish general donation fund. But there are many other ways to contribute, so you’re sure to find something that works for you.