Cam vs. Wild

This summer a few of my close friends and I are going to do a fundraiser for a charity. We will be doing a bike ride for the CAI. The Central Asia Institute is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with the mission to promote and support community-based education, especially for girls, in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. It was founded by Gregg Mortenson out of Bozeman, Montana. During his attempt to climb K2, Gregg was separated from his climbing group and became lost. After 70 days on the mountain and in an exhausted and weakened state he stumbled into a small Pakistani village. He was nursed back to health by the tribal leaders. To repay their hospitality Gregg promised to return someday and build a school for the small community. From that first small school in Korphe, his idea of promoting peace through education in a war torn area of the world has taken root. Since 1996 the CAI has built 131 schools, educating more than 58,000 students (mostly girls). The CAI works closely with the Shura, or Afghan tribal leaders to establish and build these schools. This allows temporal security as well as provides future support for the schools.
We are going to ride our bicycles from Salt Lake City Utah to Las Vegas Nevada! Our journey will take us over 500 miles through the rural portions of Utah and into the blazing desert sun of Nevada. We will ride six consecutive days from May 17th – May 22nd with planned stops in Mt. Pleasant, Richfield, Panguitch, St. George, Logandale, and finally Las Vegas. How might this help you ask? Well, we are gathering both public and private sponsors who pledge to donate monetary contributions to the CAI for each mile we ride (the total will be about 500). These sponsors will be notified upon our completion via email or letter, whichever they prefer, containing pictures and a complete account of our adventures. At this time we would encourage them to honor their pledge and donate the agreed upon amount directly to the CAI, via the CAI website using the donation code we provide. In the end everybody wins; we get a healthy dose of exercise, they get the satisfaction of helping others (not to mention a nice tax write off), and the Afghani and Pakistani girls will get the priceless gift of an education.
Why did we choose the CAI?

• We feel that this is a legitimate, meaningful, organization that uses its funding appropriately. Just take a look at their 990 form. They have used their donations extremely well.
• They focus on educating girls. Girls tend to remain in the community and pass their enhanced knowledge to the next generation whereas educated boys tend to move the urban areas leaving the rural community without educated individuals. Thus, as Mortenson suggests, educating girls has more of a lasting benefit for the community.
• As college students we recognize the importance of education. Each of us has been given the great gift and opportunity of receiving an education. We feel the moral responsibility to pass that along to others the same opportunity.

We have currently raised over 5000 dollars and continue to receive donations