Despite hosting bike rides for our groups in my town and other places, I'm not a big organizer and don't consider myself in any way a promoter or even a good public speaker. Some of the guys do say I'm in my element guiding folks around our area, but it's taken a long time to develop that skill in any case.
My stepfather, John, has been riding to raise money and awareness about Alzheimers disease for over 10 years. He does long distance rides, and has singlehandedly inspired an awful lot of people to donate money and time to his efforts.
He rides his Cannondale road bike on these rides, and has done over 20000 miles in his official rides, and probably twice that in local tours and training. He's lucky that he is now retired (at least semi retired!) and can devote a lot of his time to this effort.
It's pretty inspiring to see the level of effort he puts into both cycling and fundraising. There are many hours of preparing letters, talking to local groups, making all the arrangements for the rides, speaking to the Connecticut Alzheimers'
Association, uploading pictures and ride stories to the website, and stuffing envelopes.
If you're interested in some great cycling stories, excellent pictures and documentation of many different cross-country rides, and some of the neat people, places, and things you can meet cycling, please check out his web site:
http://www.rideforalzheimers.com/ride2009.html
My brother builds the website for the ride, but John does all the writing and photography for it. If you too are inspired by his efforts, a donation is most welcome. He would be very excited to find out that it came through another cycling-enthusiast web site.
http://www.rideforalzheimers.com/index.html
As you can see here, he has raised over $15000 this year in small private donations for the Alzheimers Association. He does not take any percentage of that. Each year, he has managed to increase his fundraising effort, even this year when things were so tough for many people. He has collected over $100,000 in donations over 10 years, that primarily goes to "respite care". This is money that pays for a professional to care for someone afflicted by Azheimers, giving the regular caregiver (usually a close family member) a much needed break from the constant work and worry for a time.
Hope you enjoy the pictures and stories, as well as his sense of humor. Thanks for reading,
--Rob (NLCTVWguy)
My stepfather, John, has been riding to raise money and awareness about Alzheimers disease for over 10 years. He does long distance rides, and has singlehandedly inspired an awful lot of people to donate money and time to his efforts.
He rides his Cannondale road bike on these rides, and has done over 20000 miles in his official rides, and probably twice that in local tours and training. He's lucky that he is now retired (at least semi retired!) and can devote a lot of his time to this effort.
It's pretty inspiring to see the level of effort he puts into both cycling and fundraising. There are many hours of preparing letters, talking to local groups, making all the arrangements for the rides, speaking to the Connecticut Alzheimers'
Association, uploading pictures and ride stories to the website, and stuffing envelopes.
If you're interested in some great cycling stories, excellent pictures and documentation of many different cross-country rides, and some of the neat people, places, and things you can meet cycling, please check out his web site:
http://www.rideforalzheimers.com/ride2009.html
My brother builds the website for the ride, but John does all the writing and photography for it. If you too are inspired by his efforts, a donation is most welcome. He would be very excited to find out that it came through another cycling-enthusiast web site.
http://www.rideforalzheimers.com/index.html
As you can see here, he has raised over $15000 this year in small private donations for the Alzheimers Association. He does not take any percentage of that. Each year, he has managed to increase his fundraising effort, even this year when things were so tough for many people. He has collected over $100,000 in donations over 10 years, that primarily goes to "respite care". This is money that pays for a professional to care for someone afflicted by Azheimers, giving the regular caregiver (usually a close family member) a much needed break from the constant work and worry for a time.
Hope you enjoy the pictures and stories, as well as his sense of humor. Thanks for reading,
--Rob (NLCTVWguy)
