UWG
News Item
Contact: University Communications & Marketing
Phone (678) 839-6464, FAX (678) 839-6645
ucm@westga.edu
Stewart to ride in "Journey of Hope"
January 29, 2003
CARROLLTON, GA - With all the bad news we’ve been hearing lately about the economy falling and the world being on the brink of another war, students like Geordie Stewart, senior political science major from the University of West Georgia, help us realize that good is still going on in the world.
This
summer, Stewart will participate in “A Journey of Hope,” a
cross-country bicycle trek beginning in San Francisco and ending in Washington,
D.C. to raise funds and awareness for people with disabilities.
Stewart will be joined on the two-month journey by 70 Pi Kappa Phi fraternity members, split into two groups of 35 members each. One team will take a southern route and the other team will take a northern route to Washington, D.C. The teams will travel approximately 75 miles per day, and the southern team will be coming through Carrollton in July.
Each participant must raise $5,000 to ride in the Journey of Hope. To raise money, Stewart asked his family members to donate money at Christmas. He also received some money from his fraternity brothers and local banks. Stewart works as a Peer Educator, which is helping him to pay for his bike and other gear that he will need for the journey.
“I have worked at a camp for children with disabilities, and I know what these children go through,” says Stewart, “I’m glad I have the opportunity to help them again.”
Stewart began training for the event last October and has been running and working out three to four times per week ever since. He also said he has been riding his bicycle as much as possible.
The Journey of Hope reaches over 45 million yearly through media and community events, bringing to the forefront the abilities of people with disabilities. Every night the riders participate in “friendship visits” where they visit with a local group that serves people with disabilities. During “friendship visits” the riders will participate in activities such as a game of wheelchair basketball or performing a puppet show for children.
“I am most looking forward to the friendship visits, because that is when I will actually get to spend time with disabled children,” says Stewart.
For
more information concerning the event, contact Ron Lunk, treasurer of
the UWG chapter of Pi Kappa Phi, at 770-836-6526. To make a donation to
sponsor Stewart, contact him at 678-478-5981.
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