In 2010 46 million people in the United States lived in poverty. 15% of the population… one in every six people. Worse: 22% of children under the age of 18 lived in poverty.

Next to the Federal Government, US Catholic Charities is the largest social safety net provider in the Country, delivering services to over 12 million people from its 2,600 locations.

In 2010, its Centennial year, US Catholic Charities announced an initiative to reduce poverty in America 50% by the year 2020. Father Matt saw in this the prospect of making his departure from St. Francis Parish (SFX) and 3 month sabbatical into something grand and good. Matt often focused upon a core message in the Gospel of St. Matthew; Our duty to feed the hungry, clothe the naked… minister to the needs of the poor and forgotten. Father Matt saw that bicycling across the United States could draw attention and contributions to the Catholic Charities campaign.

Matt had already established himself as both an adventurer and gifted fundraiser. In 2004 he sought to reduce or eliminate the SFX parish debt. Seeking donations, Matt kayaked from the headwaters of the Missouri River over 2,300 miles to St. Louis. He raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars.

“Cycling for Change” was Matt’s creation and his message:

“I can not think of a better way to spend my sabbatical than by helping those most vulnerable across the country… Our Cycling for Change Team is a small group of pilgrims helping those in poverty all over the country by supporting the work of Catholic Charities and raising money to expand the services of the Caritas Center in Kansas City.”

The C4C campaign stood exclusively upon two pillars; raise awareness and raise money. There was a third pillar, individual in nature. It was the pursuit of an adventure. I confess that but for “the adventure” I would not have committed to those first two “pillars”.

2009 and 2010 lay before us heavy with an array of events, duties, and tasks.

In addition to phone and in-person solicitations I sent out over 150 letters and countless emails to friends, family, and colleagues in the legal community. Christine engaged in similar personal fundraising efforts. Together we raise over $25,000.00 on behalf of C4C.

There were meetings and committees.

I began assembling the tools and supplies to be our bike mechanic on the road, including building and “trueing” spare wheels for the group.

We began cycling together, joining the SFX parish “Flying Fish” bicycle group in organized metro rides.

Matt spoke at Kansas City’s Irish Fest.

We staffed a booth at the Tour of Missouri event.

We rode together in the 2 day MS-150 event.

We sponsored and headlined our own C4C group ride event in Kansas City.

There were informal C4C gatherings that cemented our group identity.

A grand fundraiser was hosted at the Boulevard Brewery in Kansas City.

A weekend retreat was held at Conception Abbey in northwest Missouri. … and there were (many) training rides. The most significant being in Colorado; a week in June to give us experience riding roads and highways in the mountains.

Until the June 2009 Colorado ride Christine had been content to let me pursue C4C on my own. No thought had been given to her personal participation. She was not a “cyclist”, however Christine was an organizational wizard and gifted manager of people. She accompanied us to Colorado for the fun of it, but by the end of the week everyone acknowledged the virtues of including Christine as the chief “cat herder”.

Matt’s original vision was to ride from the farthest northwestern point of the contiguous 48 states, Cape Flattery Washington, to the southernmost point, Key West Florida. (We traversed the Card Sound Bridge which is just north of Key Largo, the farthest southeastern point.)

Matt is a person of vision, but not necessarily detail. As of June 2009 others had begun to assemble the day-by-day routing and logistics. Christine became an active part of that planning after the Colorado ride.

C4C was taking shape in a serious way, inertia enough that Catholic Charities of Kansas City secured an SUV, two large vans, and a dual axle trailer for our use on the campaign across America.

Next: Part 4, Sendoff to Seattle.

Peace Everyone. Pete

 

2008 ended with a collision of bitter and sweet. In October our daughter Renee’ gave birth to naturally occurring quadruplets. They were very early and very small. Our other daughter, Alexis, announced that she was pregnant and would deliver in 2009. Renee’ encouraged Alexis to seek an early sonogram on the chance that mega-multiples now ran in the family. When later told by her doctor that she was carrying twins Alexis exclaimed in relief, “Thank God!”. In a span of 30 months our family would grow with the birth of 9 grandchildren.

Tragedy arrived in December. All four of the fragile babies remained in NICU. (Simon would not join his siblings at home until he was 6 months old.) Daphne was losing her struggle with life. On December 6^th she drew her last breath while held in her mother’s arms. The family was devastated.

Father Matt arrived at the hospital the next morning to give solace. Lissa Whittaker, a Eucharistic Minister at St. Francis Xavier Church (SFX), called to say that she would take care of the arrangements for Daphne’s service. That eased one burden. We knew of Lissa and her husband Tom, but I was not yet aware that they would be among those bicycling across the Country. From the moment of Lissa’s call she and Tom became dear threads interwoven into the fabric of our family.

Father Matt officiated Daphne’s funeral and a few months later he baptized her three surviving siblings, all of whom have grown and thrived in spite of their early difficulties.

The Cycling for Change (C4C) through riders would number 12. In addition to Father Matt and his parish assistant, Bethany Paul,

we would include:

Dr. Tom Whittaker, JD MD. Physician and surgeon, University of Kansas Department of Ophthalmology.

Lissa Whittaker, Owner of Rapid Transcript, a Federal Court Transcription service.

John Mocella, retired and a volunteer with Catholic Charities of Kansas City.

Sara Terhune, Graduate student.

Karl Schafer, Physical Therapist.

Jeremy Ruzich, Photographer.

John Stigers, Retired postal worker.

Deborah Hellinger, DO. Musculoskeletal Radiologist.

Jason Christiansen, CEO of Catholic Charities of Colorado Springs.

and me.

Our support team on the road would consist of:

Stephen Belt, Flight training director St. Louis University.

Tom and Joy Comeau, SFX parish members. (Joy passed away late in 2018. In less than a month Tom followed. Love long shared resists separation.)

and my wife, Christine, owner and Director of Northland Dependency Services.

Logistics and administration in Kansas City would be in the hands of  Catholic Charities staff Suzanne Cronkhite and Kathy Conwell.

C4C was scheduled to begin on Memorial Day 2010 in Cape Flattery Washington and conclude 100 days and 5,000 miles later with riders crossing the “Finish Line” on Labor Day in Key West Florida.

As viewed in January of 2009, Memorial Day 2010 seemed a long way off, but there was so much to do. Each participant had committed to engage in considerable group and individual fundraising. There were events to plan and host, promotional rides to organize, meetings… and of course the training. Each of us had to continue with the routine challenges of home, family, and work while juggling the significant requirements of C4C. The 16 of us began 2009 as relative strangers. By the end of that year we were family.

Next: 2009-10 Promotion and Preparation.

Peace Everyone. Pete

Every story has a beginning and this one dates to 2008: I was 56 years old. Married for 31 year, a father for 30 years, an attorney for 28 years, and we had welcomed 2 new grandchildren into our lives early that year. There would be a total of 9 born within 30 months of that January. I had dreamed of riding a bicycle across North America… never… not even once.

After a 40 year hiatus I had rediscovered bicycling in 2006 and stood as proof that once learned, one never forgets how to ride a bike. My bicycle was a far cry from the 26” chrome fendered beast that I rode as a young teen. My “Seven” (the brand name) was a sleek custom build titanium job that had cost almost twice what my first new car did (a 1974 Toyota Celica GT). “Guy jewelry.” was my curt reply to Christine as she gasped upon reading the invoice. It explained everything, and nothing. I ride it to this day.

My father had long suffered from Multiple Sclerosis and so it was natural for me as a bicycle enthusiast to participate in the MS-150 charity rides sponsored in Missouri. In 2006, 2007, and again in 2008 I had ridden over 150 miles in the course of the 2 day event. I considered that to be quite an achievement.

Bicycling 5,000 miles coast to coast, crossing through 16 States, was unthinkable… certainly beyond my contemplation.

In 2008 we lived in Liberty Missouri but traveled weekly to Kansas City for Mass at St. Francis Xavier Church (SFX), the Jesuit parish next to Rockhurst University. From 1977 to 1989 we had lived a short walk from SFX and were very active in the parish. I had served a term as President of the Parish Council and Christine served as President of its School Board. By 2008 we had long retreated to pews nearer the back of the church.

In the 1950’s SFX could boast 1,500 registered parish families. In the 70’s and 80’s there were perhaps 150. The architecturally significant church was cavernous. In the early years of our attendance it rarely approached capacity except at Easter and Christmas.

The church was the spiritual home for a small but dedicated core of parishioners.

Around the year 2000, SFX experienced something of a renaissance with the arrival of its newest pastor, Father Matt Ruhl, S.J.. Among homilists Matt was a “rock star”. He drew a following from across Metro-Kansas City and SFX once again enjoyed near capacity attendance each Sunday. Matt was never one to presume the mind of God. Words like “God wants you to…” were usually absent from his sermons. Instead he challenged us to know and love ourselves and thus our neighbors in thought provoking presentations. He preferred to forego looking down upon us from the pulpit, instead walking up and down the aisle among the congregants. Mid-sermon he would often shake a hand, pat a shoulder or wink an eye without skipping a beat of his message.

His popularity was legendary and perhaps the source of jealousy from Kansas City’s Diocesan  bishop at the time who ended up ordering Matt to return to the pulpit as was “expected” of a dignified clergyman. That bishop would later find notoriety as the first of his standing to plead guilty to the crime of failure to report the sexual abuse of children.

It is said that all good things must come to an end and so it was with Matt Ruhl’s tenure at SFX. One Sunday in mid-2008 he addressed the congregation and announced that in May of 2010 he would be leaving for another assignment. Those were sad words for his dedicated followers.

It was a rare Sunday for us as we were joined in the congregation by our adult children, their spouses, and our two infant grandchildren.

Matt’s message was not of particular interest to the family until he added an unusual twist: Father Matt had received permission to take a sabbatical over the Summer of 2010. Joined by a few hand chosen riders he would bicycle across the United States, delivering the message of the Catholic Charities’ campaign to reduce poverty in the United States. He and his cycling companions would raise both awareness and funds as “Cycling for Change” (C4C). Matt would be seeking riders to join for segments of the journey. The members of my family collectively gasped as they turned to look at me. Mesmerized, I stared up at Matt. Bicycle… across the United States… across America… Wow. My family knew me all too well.

After Mass I sought out Bethany Paul, Father Matt’s assistant. “I would like to sign up for the entire ride.” Bethany looked at me without expression. I am sure that my face was familiar to her and Matt, but beyond that I was an unknown. I repeated myself. Politely, Bethany found a blank piece of paper and took down my particulars. They would be in touch. It never occurred to me that I might not be chosen to ride. I began regularly calling Bethany for “status updates”. I ignored that no one had acknowledged my “application”. In retrospect I am sure that I was something of a nuisance. My persistence won out and I was taken seriously. I would be one of the “through riders”. Eventually we would number 12, including Matt and Bethany.

There would be segment riders, and there would be support participants who would drive the vans, one pulling a cargo trailer that would be our SAG (“Support and Gear”).

I had not yet considered how I would meet my commitment to raise $25,000.00 on behalf of C4C. I had not considered how I would suspend my law practice, and thus my income, for an entire Summer or how in my absence I would continue to pay my office overhead and my assistant’s salary.

I had not given thought to being away from Christine for over 3 months. Those were just details. I was going to ride across the United States on a bicycle!

Next: Part 2. Joy, Tragedy, and Becoming Family.

Peace Everyone. Pete