Dear Friend,

I would like to begin by telling you a little about one of the most successful charitable organizations I have come to know. World Vision is an organization committed to improving the welfare of more than one hundred million impoverished individuals worldwide that find themselves without the most basic tools to make it in today’s society. My family and I have had the deep pleasure of sponsoring a family through a World Vision sponsorship program.  In 2007 Joyce and I, along with our three daughters, decided to travel to Ghana where World Vision helped us plan a visit to see our sponsor family. Seeing Joyce and our girls arrive in Accra, Ghana was a life altering experience for all of us. Not long after we arrived, we were soon traveling by car to the village of Salt Pond where we were to meet the family we sponsor through World Vision. The Salt Pond area is as beautiful as it is poor, and it could easily be a tourist destination if not for the overwhelming poverty.  On our journey to the village we witnessed firsthand, the conditions in which the people of Ghana live.  My family and I can attest to the fact that World Vision is making a vast and far reaching difference in the lives of these and others affected by poverty, famine, civil war, and natural disasters; by providing means to gain independence and the tools to fight injustice.

That said, I would like to make you aware of a fundraising opportunity for an upcoming event called the “Million Dollar Ride,” taking place October 30 through November 11, 2009. With the partnering of members of World Vision and World Bicycle Relief and through generous donors like yourself we hope to reach our goal of buying 6,250 bicycles for young girls, volunteer caregivers, and entrepreneurs. A bicycle can enable trained World Vision healthcare volunteers to reach out to those in need allowing them to travel long distances in less time and carry much more than if walking were their only option. Why a bicycle and not a motorbike or car? Well, the answer is simple: the key is to provide a high quality, well designed, low-maintenance, low-cost, and sustainable means of transportation. A bicycle meets these requirements perfectly!

My wife Joyce and I have decided to not only help raise money for this project but we are planning to actively participate in the ride through Zambia and South Africa so that we can provide firsthand testimony as to the valuable contributions your donations are providing to those in need. 

I ask you to please consider making a donation to World Vision and help us reach or beat our fundraising goal….

Sincerely,

Joyce and Henry “Hank” Brown

Ann Arbor, Michigan