Dr. Kevin Macadaeg founded Cruise Indy in 2019 because of his love of cars and the Woodward Dream Cruise in his hometown of Pontiac, Mich.
The first two Cruise Indy events supported Folds of Honor, which provides scholarships to spouses and children of America’s fallen and disabled service members. The third Cruise Indy event, which features a Sept. 17 car show and ride through Carmel, will continue to benefit Folds of Honor along with The Scoliosis Project of Indiana.
Dr. Michael McCarthy and Dr. Paul Kraemer, both partners of Carmel-based Indiana Spine Group, along with Macadaeg, founded The Scoliosis Project earlier this year to improve the spine health of children and adults in underserved nations where it is difficult to have access to medical care, let alone spine care. The goal is to bring patients with complex spinal deformities to the U.S. to have surgery. In November, a young boy from Guatemala will have surgery at Indiana Spine Hospital in Carmel. McCarthy said there have been a lot of volunteer nurses for the surgery.
McCarthy said the project’s plan is for a doctor to perform spine surgeries in Guatemala or eventually in other underserved countries. Then the more complex surgeries would be performed in the U.S. Sandra Haugo is the director of the project.
McCarthy said he and Kraemer began discussing the project during the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This was near and dear to Paul’s heart, too,” McCarthy said. “Sandra has been instrumental in being the engine behind it as far as getting it pushed through and getting things set up.”
McCarthy said the group needed some funds to launch The Scoliosis Project.
“We brought it up at a business meeting, and Kevin loved it,” McCarthy said. “He felt the way Cruise Indy was growing, it could support both these projects going forward.”
The car show starts at 8:30 a.m. at 13225 N. Meridian St., in the parking lot of Indiana Spine Group. There will be a silent auction, face painting and a scavenger hunt. The judging will be from 10 to 10:45 a.m. with the awards announced at 11:30 a.m.
The cruise runs from 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
“We had substantial growth of a few hundred cars last year, all in different categories of classic cars and modern muscle cars,” Macadaeg said.
To register, visit cruiseindy.com. For more, visit scoliproject.com.
