Victoria Stafford's father Rodney Stafford speaks to the media in this file photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Dave Chidley

WOODSTOCK, Ont. - The father of slain Woodstock, Ont., girl Tori Stafford is hosting a kick-off to his planned bike ride to Alberta.

Rodney Stafford's Kilometres for Kids trip to raise money for Child Find Ontario begins with a 12-hour event Saturday at the fairgrounds in Woodstock.

Terry Smith, assistant director of Child Find Ontario, says families can enjoy games, face-painting and raffles and also have an opportunity to get their children fingerprinted.

Parents will get to keep a booklet with their child's fingerprints and can enter other details about their child to help police in an emergency.

Rodney Stafford leaves Wednesday to cycle more than 3,000 kilometres to Edmonton and release one purple balloon on a mountain his little girl once visited.

Stafford's eight-year-old daughter Victoria disappeared in April after returning home from school. Woodstock residents Terry Lynne McClintic, 18, and Michael Rafferty, 28, have been charged with her murder.

Stafford decided to wait a few extra days before starting the trip after police found Tori's remains July 19 in a farm field in southwestern Ontario.

Smith says while Kilometres for Kids is a fundraiser for Child Find Ontario, it's also a way for Stafford to move forward.

"You can never make sense of something so completely senseless, but if you don't try to put one foot, or in his case, one pedal in front of the other, what's the point? You have to have a reason to go on."