For the last many years (since 1994) I have been fund raising for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (http://www.nmss.org/) through their BikeMS program. Each year, I gently solicit funds from the College of Engineering faculty, staff, and students for this cause. I missed 2020 due to the challenges of COVID-19 (group rides were cancelled and I was working too hard to train enough) and 2003 due to an international conference. Besides those, I’ve been a regular participant, ridden lots of miles, and most importantly raised many thousand of dollars for the cause.
Fortunately for me, I am not directly affected by this disease (although friends and family of my friends and colleagues are). This event provides me with a way of combining my favorite hobby and form of exercise with fund raising for a worthy cause. The MS ride itself brings together a great group of people from many parts of our society. On this event, I have enjoyed riding with and talking with senior vice presidents of major corporations, doctors, students, auto-workers, and UPS delivery people. The event itself is funded by registration fees paid by the riders and by donations from businesses (so your donated money is going to MS, not to PowerBars, Gatorade, etc.).
I’ll be sending e-mail solicitations this year as usual, but if you want to donate, please send me an e-mail ( [email protected]) or go to either my MS webpage or my Facebook Fundrasier pages