Dear friend/supporter,
I am so happy to write to you again and ask for your pledge in support of my annual bicycle ride. Now in my 6th Gran Fondo and 69th calendar year, I will ride the 103 miles and 9,000 ft elevation gain of Levi’s Gran Fondo here in beautiful Sonoma County, with 7,000 other riders over big climbs, awesome descents, beautiful scenery, through vineyards, redwood forests, majestic mountains, lovely country lanes, and our fierce and wild coastline. As the Gran Fondo folks say, “It’s the definitive cycling experience in our hemisphere…and not for the faint of heart.”
The happy ones pictured are Keely Croxton and Steven Hurt, co-founders/organizers of the Tour de H2O, the great Global Partners bicycling fundraiser for clean water. As for me, I am happy:
* Because I love to ride my bicycle to support the great humanitarian organization imbedded in my heart and soul, Global Partners for Development. This will be my 39th year of fundraising via running or bicycling to end hunger and poverty.
* Because it’s been quite a recovery year. With severe sciatica in early January, I have been on a 9 month campaign to wellness, now fully recovered, I am relieved to say, and ready for the challenge. Your potential pledges have been my incentive over these many training months, really.
* Because I get to connect with you again! I know, for some of you this in my only outreach, my bad, but here we are and I appreciate you! Thanks to so many of you, over 5 years of my Gran Fondo riding, you have contributed $94,209 for Global Partners’ good work in East Africa.
27 Years of Africa Projects
As it has effectively done for decades, Global Partners used your donations to create scholarships for impoverished, capable, inspiring girls to attend secondary schools and higher education, building wells and rainwater harvest systems for clean water, sanitation and hygiene training to villages, schools and medical facilities; building school classrooms; and granting dairy cows to rural women’s groups for nutrition and income. You can absolutely count on Global Partners to produce practical, tangible, positive results in people’s lives. I proudly remain a Board member.
Pledging for my Gran Fondo
Will you join me with a generous pledge? Contributions of every size appreciated, all good! As a kick-off to this year’s campaign, big thanks to Betty Biliske and Patrick Holmes whose $1,000 donation has already arrived at GPFD. We are good to go! To donate by check, make payable to Global Partners, and send to me at 5145 Burnham Ranch Rd, Santa Rosa, CA 95404.
To donate by credit card or PayPal go to: www.GPFD.org Check out the great projects!
I carry your generosity with me all the way, thank you!
