I thought we would provide a little information on why we choose the two charities that we have chosen to support.
The first is Movember Foundation through one of their organized events called the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride (DGR). I had heard of Movember for several years. Their initial fund raise event was in November growing a beard or mustache to raise awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer. They have subsequently branched out into mental health and suicide prevention in men. The DGR is an organized ride on the last Saturday in September. It is a global event and organizers within a city create a ride route and the riders dressed in the dapper clothes meet up and ride together. The entry to the event is to raise money for the foundation. We participated in the event last year and were able to raise over $1,000. It was a lot of fun; we saw some very cool and interesting bikes as well as outfits. The ride was cut short because of rain, but we still had fun and it is a great cause. I also thought it would be cool to tie in an annual trip to a larger ride. The plan this year was to hit Chicago on our way to Key West. Well unfortunately this year the event has moved to “Ride Solo Together” canceling the large group rides due to COVID-19 issues. Our plan now is to be in Indiana and ride through a bunch of scenic covered bridges, in not so fancy clothes since we will have limited space on the bike. We choose The DGR because Alex would have absolutely loved to have dressed up in some sort of outfit and participated in this event and the mental health support they fund across the globe.
The second organization we have chosen to support is Child & Family Services of Northwestern MI (CFS). My connection to CFS, indirectly, goes back to 2003 shortly after we moved to Traverse City. I was asked by an individual I met through work if I would join the board of Third Level Crisis Center. At the time they were having some challenges financially, as well as turn over at the Executive Director Level. Third Level, in addition to many other services, was the NWMI call center for the National Suicide Hot Line they also ran a local crisis line and a 411 platform. I served on the Board for about 5-years and then took a break. I rejoined the Board a few years later at another difficult juncture in the organization’s life, and ultimately was part of the Board that merged the organization together with CFS were I served on the Board up until Alex’s death. I have been added to the Board of Trustees there, but in fairness have been mostly inactive. I have had a very challenging time dedicating much energy anywhere outside of my immediate family and work since Alex’s passing. A little over a year ago CFS lost the contract for the suicide hotline to a large national provider. They continue to provide education and training on suicide prevention in NW MI as well as a 24/7 youth hotline, street outreach, and counseling for all ages. All of the services and the foster work they do has a direct or indirect impact on mental health and suicide prevention.
Immediately after Alex’s passing Brian Pitser and Matt Hartman and all of his friends at The Northern Angler, our local fly fishing shop and his employer during college, put together a warm water fly fishing tournament in Alex’s honor called The Cheese Cup. The events name came from his shop nickname Cheese. It has been amazing to watch the event grow and thrive over the past few years. Even with a pandemic this Spring, they held it socially distanced and had a great turn out. In total they have raised over $30,000 for CFS through the great support of some local and industry sponsors and a ton of great people in the fly fishing community. It makes Kathryn and I cry, in a good way, all the time to know how touched these good friends were by the short time they spent with Alex.
You can go to the organizations websites to learn more about what they do here:
Additionally, under the donations page on this site we have links to our Movember DGR ride page as well as a donation box link for CFS. That way we will know who has supported us and we can thank you personally.
We are both looking forward to getting on the road and seeing this great country from top to bottom. In a period in which our country appears to be bitterly divided with so little tolerance of other’s and their views and opinions. My personal hope is that we find that in this age of 24/7 news and social media, that makes it feel like the country is full of hate and that we are pulling apart at the seams, we find what is so great about this country.
To me that is a country filled with people from all walks of life, who when you get down to the core, are all the same and want the same things for everyone, peace, love, and freedom.