The Amazing Bicycle
By Adventure Cycling
The bicycle is the great equalizer. People in all walks of life bicycle; people in all kinds of professions bicycle. I know this. I believe this. And yet, what happened to me during a few days in April surprised me. Pleasantly surprised me.
In April, I attended the Association of Fundraising Professionals International Conference in Baltimore, MD. I expected to meet a lot of people whose professional avocation is to find ways to support their organization's mission financially.
What I didn't expect was that people would seek me out to tell me how the bicycle had changed their lives.
The very first session I attended (an orientation for first timers), I introduced myself to the crowd and announced that I was with Adventure Cycling Association. As the session broke up, a very nice woman came up to me to express her sincere and heartfelt thanks for Adventure Cycling. Her daughter had used Adventure Cycling resources to complete a cross country trip. Mom called it "life changing" and and "an incredible achievement." And an achievement her daughter would not have accomplished without Adventure Cycling's assistance. Made my day!
The second bicycle encounter came in the exhibit hall. An exhibitor looked at my tag and his eyes lit up as he began to talk about RAGBRAI, the annual ride across Iowa. When I mention that I know someone on Team Skunk, it was as if I was name dropping and the stories that followed were fascinating. Instant connection.
And finally, I had another person look wistfully at my name badge and recall the time in his life that he did centuries. I gave him my card and said he could be doing them again and suggested he start planning his next trip with some of the great Adventure Cycling maps. Hope rekindled.
And on top of that, several people came up to me in the course of this meeting to tell how important our maps and services were various fundraising rides that were held along one of our 40,000+ miles of bicycle routes.
It gave me pause that in the middle of a conference of professional fundraisers, that people would take the time to tell me what a difference the bicycle and/or Adventure Cycling Association made in their lives, but they did. It reminded me that when you donate to Adventure Cycling Association you are keeping people's hopes and dreams alive. You are making a life-changing adventure for a college student possible. You are helping people step out of their comfort zone, try doing something adventurous, and in the end, I believe you are changing lives.