Curt's Ride To Cure Cancer - 2011

[dlavery]

Friends and compatriots –

I am writing to ask for your support for a very special cause. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the U.S. (behind only heart disease), and it strikes children and adults with equal ferocity. Virtually everyone I know has been touched directly or indirectly by this disease. Even within the community of FIRST teams and participants, almost all of us have been personally impacted by this disease in some manner.

Just 25 days from now we will be starting the 2011 edition of Curt's Ride to Cure Cancer – a 620-mile bicycle ride along the length of the Florida coast to honor and raise awareness for all those that have been affected by cancer, and raise funds for the American Cancer Society. This year we will depart from Amelia Island on the Georgia-Florida border on October 1. If all goes well (barring wild tortoises, powder-blue pickup trucks, and random flat tires), eight days later we will pedal up to the "Southernmost point" marker in Key West.

On behalf of those affected by this disease, we am asking for your help and support for "Curt's Ride." You can do this in any of several ways:

- Join the "Curt's Ride" team. Become one of the riders, and participate in the adventure! It would be great to have you ride along for a day - or for the whole thing! Pedal along with us and lend your moral support. Even better, consider becoming a Curt's Ride team member and helping with the fund-raising goals of our project. You can sign on to the Curt’s Ride team on the project web page at http://CurtsRide.com/. We already have a big increase this year in the number of riders that go for the entire 620-mile ride, and it would be great to add even more.

- Get the word out. Help the people you know learn about the project. The more people that know, the more that can join in. The more people that know, the more awareness we can raise about this issue. The more people that know, the more that will be able to help. Tell your friends, team members, family, cellmates, the person behind you in the grocery store check-out line, and the IT security officer that reads all your e-mail about Curt's Ride. Let everyone know, and see if they want to join in or lend their support.

There were many memorable elements of last year's Curt's Ride that reinforced the whole idea of the ride. One of those was the collection of photos, messages, and mementoes that we were asked to carry with us for the length of the ride. They were a wonderful way to honor those special cancer patients from your lives, and to also help explain why we were on this adventure. We will be glad to carry similar items again this year to help us raise awareness about this disease and tell the story of the impact of cancer on the lives of all of us.

- Contribute. One of the goals of Curt's Ride is to do what we can to help find a cure for cancer. The channel through which we have chosen to pursue that goal is financial support for the American Cancer Society. By contributing to ACS on behalf of Curt's Ride To Cure Cancer, you will help the ACS fulfill their mission to eliminate cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and service.

I have set a personal fundraising goal for our 2011 ride of a minimum of $6,200 ($10 per mile) and hope to go well beyond that. Any support that you are able to contribute will be most gratefully appreciated. If appropriate, I can take cash or a check made out to "American Cancer Society" (with "Curt’s Ride" noted in the notation block), which will be forwarded directly to the ACS. But the fastest and easiest way to contribute is online through my Curt's Ride participant page. Or, you can provide your support by sponsoring any of the other members of the Curt's Ride team - links to their participant pages can be found on the project web page at http://CurtsRide.com/.

All contributions to the ACS are tax-deductable (as are any costs you incur to participate in Curt’s Ride as a fund-raising team member). The Curt's Ride project page is a direct subsidiary of the American Cancer Society web presence, and your contribution will go straight to the ACS with no middlemen or intermediate organizations.

Additional information about the ride, including the route map, planned itinerary, and progress notes, will be posted on the "Facebook Curt's Ride To Cure Cancer page" for the project (you don’t have to be a member of Facebook to see the page, but you will have to join if you want to comment or participate in the discussions).

Thank you for your support and generosity.

-dave

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Why Is It Called "Curt's Ride"?

Curt Ewald was a friend and former classmate from Herndon High School (HHS '76). In the summer of 2010, Curt was diagnosed with Stage IV adenocarcinoma in the lungs. As Curt prepared for the journeys ahead, he displayed the most amazing outlook on life, was one of the most open and communicative of friends, and showed the most well-balanced understanding of what was before him, of anyone that you could ever know. In just a scant few weeks, Curt taught me more about acting with grace under pressure and the strength of solid character than I had learned in 50 years.

Curt lost his battle with adenocarcinoma last year just before the first iteration of this ride named in his honor, barely eight weeks after his initial diagnosis. In his memory, and that of all the other current and former HHS classmates, and all those everywhere that have been affected by this disease, Curt's Ride To Cure Cancer has been established as part of the "Team ACS" program.

For those that never met him, this American Cancer Society blog (A Message From Curt) describes in just a small way who Curt was. I would really urge you to read this blog post. Even now, he still teaches. This is why we are doing the ride.

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