Hi everyone,
I send my deepest, sincerest gratitude. I wouldn't have thought that I could raise over $500 for Climate Cycle, and I raised $1,745. Your support brought tears to my eyes.
I woke up at 3:30 am on May 9th and was picked up by my fellow event committee co-chair. It was dark, cold and windy, but that didn't stop us from doing what we needed to do. It was great to see friends from different parts of my life as well as Joey's life arrive... from his family, to classmates at Presidio, to Joey's high school and college friends, to my friends from WashU and Denver.
From Working Bikes, a local nonprofit, showing folks that you can power a water pump, blender, and spinning globe through pedal power to Yuri Lane beatboxing riders to the start line to Cobalt and the Hired Guns (one of my favorite bands) welcoming the riders back from the ride... Climate Cycle was a dream come true. Check out the video that our Trader Joe's team created.
May 9th moved me. With 300 passionate riders, 175 committed volunteers, we put on a successful event and raised over $66,000. With the Motorola Foundation matching us with $30,000, we have raised almost $100,000. Incredible for a first time event.
While we can quantify the money we raised, the impact described in this note is immeasurable. It's written by a staff member from a south side school called Polaris, who brought 27 second and third graders to ride in the event. They recently got off their training wheels. They rode 5.5 miles that day.
May 10, 2009
To: Joey, Steve, Suzanne and all of the WONDERFUL people at Climate Cycle who made yesterday possible-
I know you all must be exhausted today, but I wanted to extend a HUGE thank you for helping make yesterday a reality for our students at Polaris. I've never seen a group of prouder kids then when we returned! I'm not sure if you're aware, but the kids actually choose to push themselves to go an additional mile and a half down the course because, "then more people will know what we're doing and think about why solar power is important." Of course, this made for a rather challenging return trip, but despite fatigue, a few mechanical malfunctions (we actually lost someone's handle bars for a moment), and the relentless head wind, every student completed the course. I think their endurance was summed up by Rose who, about a mile from the end, wiped out and landed smack in a mud puddle. When we asked Rose if she wanted to walk and cut across the hill to get back sooner said, "No! We have to finish together. This is too important not to finish."
Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the amazing work you all put in to make yesterday a reality. I know the logistical challenges must have been a nightmare, but from a participants perspective it ran incredibly smoothly for a first time event. A special thanks to your staff and volunteers who went out of their way to help us and make every student feel special. From the smiles at the beginning, to the words of encouragement along the way, to the clapping at the end really - they all helped make the kids feel like they were doing important work.
Bravo for all of your efforts and we hope you'll allow us to take part again next year.
In gratitude,
Tracy
To see pictures of the event, go here.
Again, my most heartfelt thanks goes out to you all for your support in making May 9th a success and giving kids the opportunity to learn about the power of solar and having it on their schools.
Much love,
Hanh