The Plan

Ok, so until now, we've been a little vague as to what exactly our plan is for next year.  That's partially due to the fact that we're not totally sure what charity we want to work with, and partially because we're still figuring out the logistics of how exactly this will work. 

Here are the important pieces we know so far:

1.  My brother, Dave (now Kimuli) is in the Peace Corps in Uganda.  Adam and I visited Kimuli last summer. We saw, and were inspiried by, the good work he does for the people of Africa who are in desperate need of any and all help they can get.

2a. We want to give back.  Last May, we organized a 1/2 marathon (ran in the middle of the night to accompany Kimuli running in Uganda).  We raised over $1,000 and had close to 15 people participate in the run (Adam won).

2b. We applied for a grant through the Timocracy Foundation and received $5,000 to be given to Lukaya Polytechnical Institution, the organization that Kimuli works for in Uganda, to help build their resources so they can become a more self-sustaining organization.

3.  We talked to someone in the field of sponsoring trips like this.   His advice: find something you are passionate about and go with that.

4. Adam and I are passionate about the outdoors, about being active, about helping at-risk youth and communities, about Africa.

 

5. We are also passionate about sushi, and one night when we treated ourselves to some at our favorite restaurant, Hanami, we came up with this crazy plan, drawn out on the back of our placemat, to bike ride all 50 states and have fundraisers in each state to collect bikes for those without.  This was our first draft of our plan and it has since evolved, but the basic plan remains the same.  Adam and I talked about, and are still debating, different charities and organizations that will help us attain our goal: Holding bike collections in every state to send bikes to Africa as well as to local people in need.  We feel that now is an even more important time to be promoting bicycle use, especially on the heels of the oil spill.

I realize this is still vague... but it's what we've got.  We'll keep posting updates so keep checking in!

 

(all photos by Adam Coppola)