Hi! This summer I'm riding a bicycle across California to raise money for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and the Los Angeles LGBT Center. The ride is called the AIDS/LifeCycle Ride and I’ll be doing it with a team of cyclists from my company. I'm really excited about the opportunity to push myself, see a beautiful part of the country, connect with others, take some obnoxious selfies that I promise to post in limited quantities, and, most importantly, raise money for an important mission. Check all the details out below!
From June 2nd - June 8th, over 3,000 Cyclists (including me!), Roadies and Virtual Cyclists will be participating in AIDS/LifeCycle, a 545-mile bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles to raise funds for the life-saving services offered by San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
The services provided as a result of this event mean the world to those who receive them, and your support means the world to me.
Here are a lot of other things you might want to know about the AIDS/LifeCycle Ride:
-The ride has raised more than $193 million since 2002 (yeah, wow!). The two organizations this ride supports have spent that money on effective, compassionate, life-affirming services to those who or at-risk or have been impacted by HIV/AIDS. Read more stuff about that below...
-The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s objectives are to: provide free HIV/AIDS testing and prevention, addiction recovery, and mental health services to those in need; create a social safety net for members of the LGBT community by providing shelter, healthcare, and legal services; and advance the civil rights and freedoms of LGBT people through education, advocacy, and community organizing
-The SF AIDS Foundation’s objectives are to: build healthier communities by nurturing resilience in individual and social groups, while reducing harm associated with drugs and alcohol; reduce new HIV infections to fewer than 100 per year by tapping into medical advances and community power to steadily drop HIV rates for good; and improve the health and lifespan of San Franciscan’s living with HIV
-Donations to me will be split 50/50 between these two great organizations
-If you're like me and want to know that your hard-earned donation money is going to effective organizations, you might care that both of these organizations have a 4-star rating (i.e. the highest possible) by Charity Navigator. Together, they average spending about 9 out of every 10 dollars of their total budget on program expenses, meaning most of your dollars will go directly to people in need rather than administrative expenses. In other words, both organizations are efficient spenders of their money
-The ride is also a chance to raise awareness, grow the community of activists working to make AIDS a thing of the past, and honor those who have passed from AIDS-related causes. How awesome is that?
-My legs are gonna be so toned at the end of this thing. More importantly I will probably get a hilarious tan line on my quads. I promise to post pictures. How can you resist supporting that?
Please consider supporting these great organizations and my ride from SF to LA with a donation!
Also, just sayin’, the ride aligns nicely with my 31st birthday (June 10th) and a donation of any amount to this cause would be the perfect birthday gift!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for any donations - no matter the size - I'm so grateful for your support.
Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions you might have. Have a great day!
Jon