We created The Yes Ride to build a movement that empowers individuals to improve the lives of the poorest people of the world. The 2006 Yes Ride is a 4,000-mile journey from Seattle to Boston and it is fueled by the determination of America's youth and the kindness of strangers.
Each year approximately 12,000,000 people die of starvation, malaria, and AIDS, a number equivalent to the entire population of New York City and Los Angeles. Every one of these deaths is both unnecessary and preventable.
Contributing to The Yes Ride, either through cycling or donating, is a concrete way for an individual to partake in the worldwide effort to end severe poverty.
The selection of our beneficiaries is based on key Millennium Development Goals: increase education through funding secondary school students in Kenya, empower families with income generating renewable resources such as animals and seedlings, improve healthcare by providing exceptional care to families from Russia to Peru to Haiti, and assist in the development of a vaccine for AIDS and malaria.
The Yes Ride's name embodies our values in possibilities: say yes to contributing to the end of poverty, say yes to self-empowerment, say yes to inspiring others, say yes to humanity.
Overview of the event
We are a group of young individuals from Boulder Colorado, who are creating an annual bike ride across the United States. The goal of this ride is to raise funds for beneficiaries who are committed to improving the lives of individuals in the poorest regions of the world. The selection of our beneficiaries is based on key United Nations Millennium Development Goals: increase education, reduce extreme poverty, improve healthcare, and assist in HIV and malaria vaccine research.
This year's event will begin in early June and take riders from Seattle, through the Cascade Mountains, across the continental divide in Glacier National Park, through the rolling hills of the Midwest, across the headwaters of the Mississippi river, along the cost of the Great Lakes, across the Alleghenies, through New York City and end in Boston.
Each participant in our event is required to raise 4,000 dollars. While on the ride, participants will stay at schools, religious organizations, rotary clubs, and other sponsors. No individual at our organization receives any monetary compensation and all funds that are raised (minus expenses for advertising and operational costs) will be divided equally among each beneficiary. We will do everything in our power to maximize the total amount donated to each beneficiary, and minimize administrative and advertising costs.
There are two goals for this event. First, our organization seeks to net an excess of 200,000 dollars for our four beneficiaries. Second, our organization seeks to create a moving monument that motivates humanity to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. This monument will be 4,300 miles long and it will involve 50 young people who are devoting their lives to assisting the forgotten people in the world. This event is not just a bike ride; it is an event that will save lives in the Third World and transform them in the First.
By funding secondary school students in Kenya through International Peace Initiatives www.ipeacei.org
By providing income generating renewable resources through The Heifer Project www.heifer.org
By supporting exceptional health care to the poor from Russia to Rwanda to Haiti through Partners In Health www.pih.org and The Emory Vaccine Center www.vaccines.emory.edu
By supporting the mission of Circles of Ten: Women for World Peace. www.peacecircles.net
