Welcome to my fundraising page! I am very excited to raise money for a cause I believe in, and I hope you are able to contribute. El Tour de Tucson is my favorite and MOST challenging event! This will be the 4th year I travel from Pittsburgh, PA to Tucson, AZ to meet my fellow Beads of Courage teammates to ride and fundraise for Beads of Courage. As you already know - Beads of Courage is the non-profit I work for and also care about deeply. I used to use the Beads of Courage program when I worked at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and saw daily the courage children, teens, and their families displayed when they were facing some of their most incredible challenges imaginable. It was an honor to be able to help them see alongside all the stress, worry, despair, sadness, and all emotions one feels when your child is in the hospital that their amazing courage and strength were always there.
Riding 28 miles in El Tour is NO EASY task for me. For those of you who know me, exercise is not my thing. But each year, in honor of each of the babies, children, teens, moms, dads, siblings, grandmas, grandpas, etc that I have met whose hearts were so heavy with worry for their loved one - I ride for them. Even last year, it was HARD. Yes, I walked my bike up the biggest hill. I cried as I saw the signs for "El Centro" - Downtown where the race ended - BC I put my heart and soul into this physically exhausting ride - Why? Because I said, if all these incredible people I had the honor to meet and give Beads of Courage to, had enough courage and strength to get through their toughest challenges, then I will face my challenge and finish this race. And with the memories of so many, my dear cousin included, my heart filled with love and honor and I rode on to the finish.
I carry Beads of Courage on my ride. So that I can return them to Beads of Courage filled with my love, honor, and strength facing my biggest challenge to encourage another coping with cancer and other serious illneses.
Your support of my ride means so much to me. I will carry your support with me when it gets tough and know that you are making a difference to encourage me and more importantly, your donation helps Beads of Courage so that kids can get beads to RECORD, TELL and OWN their stories of courage. So they have a collection of beautiful beads that say - YOU ARE NOT ALONE! YOUR COURAGE RUNS DEEP!
Thank you for helping us and thank you for any amount that you can give!