Mike Wallace, a recent graduate and member of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, plans to cap his MU experience by helping cyclists make a more than 4,000-mile trip from San Francisco to Washington, D.C.
The trip, called “The Journey of Hope,” is a program created by Push America, which seeks to improve the lives of people with disabilities by raising money.
The cross-country trip is expected to last from June 12 to Aug. 13, according to Push America’s Web site, www.pushamerica.org. Journey of Hope is expected to raise more than $400,000.
Basil Lyberg, who oversees cycling events for Push America, said 64 cyclists and 17 crew members are participating.
To participate, Wallace had to raise $2,500, which came from friends, family and other donors. Wallace will work as a crew member helping the cyclists on their two-month journey.
Chris Vomund, an MU junior and member of Pi Kappa Phi hopes to be one of the cyclists, but first he will need to raise a lot of money — and fast. Volunteers are responsible for their own expenses; all money donated to Push America goes directly to the organization.
Although he has been training for a couple of months, he is $4,000 shy of the $5,000 he needs to raise by June 7 to participate as a cyclist.
“Fundraising is more difficult than expected, but we keep plugging away,” Vomund said. He is in contact with numerous organizations and businesses around town, but with just over a week left he is not sure whether he will make the deadline, he said.
Push America uses most of the money it raises to fund various projects such as Access Ability, which makes low-income areas more accessible for people with disabilities, Push America’s Web site said.
This summer, Push America is starting a program to make six summer camps more accessible for the disabled using volunteers, said Brad Collier, a member of Pi Kappa Phi and a volunteer in another Push America program, Build America. Among the camps to be renovated is Wonderland Camp in Rocky Mount, near the Lake of the Ozarks, the Push America Web site states.
In addition, Push America is active in Columbia in a couple of ways, Vomund said. The local Pi Kappa Phi chapter has secured a grant through Push America for the Columbia VSA (formerly Very Special Arts), a program that seeks to provide an artistic outlet to disabled children in Missouri.
“After seeing the organization and what it does, I thought it would be a good activity to get involved with,” Wallace said.