Bay Windows - May 12, 2005
Ethan Jacobs, ejacobs@baywindows.com.

Now a resident of East Hampton, Meg Sanders decided last year to take part in the first annual Mass Red Ribbon Ride, an AIDS charity bike ride that runs from Western Mass. to the suburbs of Boston, and she mailed fundraising letters to people she knew in from hometown. The 23-year-old explained in the letters that she was riding across the state to raise funds for HIV/AIDS organizations because she had been orphaned by the disease, and the letters generated a overwhelming response.

"Sometimes I'd go to my mailbox, and some days there'd be five envelopes from people all over the country supporting me," explained Sanders, who said the response from her former friends and neighbors in Tennessee particularly moved her. "Everyone from Tennessee was so grateful and really praised me for taking this on, and that really surprised me."

This summer she will join riders for the second Red Ribbon Ride, which takes place Aug. 13 and 14, and she said one of her main goals between now and then is to bring in more riders from Western Mass. She is putting together a team of riders made up of staff, clients and volunteers at AIDS CARE/Hampshire County, one of the beneficiaries of the ride, where she herself volunteers, and she said Western Mass. AIDS organizations have been hit hard by state budget cuts over the last few years.

"Last year it was definitely a very Boston ride, which is cool, but we needed some Western Massers out there, too," Sanders said.

Looking back on last year's ride, Sanders said one of the most rewarding experiences was knowing that each rider had been touched by AIDS in some way and that they all came together to make a difference.

"You knew how deep and changing your experience was, and to know that all of these other riders, ... they had all come from some kind of experience [with AIDS] to bring them to the same place," said Sanders. "There was just something so gentle about that."

Currently more than 100 riders are slated to join Sanders in the second annual Mass Red Ribbon Ride, and organizers are hoping to recruit around 200 riders. After Pallotta Teamworks, the for-profit company that organized AIDS rides from Boston to New York starting in the mid-90s, closed its doors in 2002 amid charges of spending exorbitant sums on producing rides, AIDS Action organized its own stripped down three-day AIDS ride from Pittsfield to Salem, with an emphasis on cutting costs. The ride brought in $180,000, and 80 percent of those funds went to support AIDS Action's programs.

In 2004 AIDS Action joined with 17 other organizations to start the Mass. Red Ribbon Ride, another three-day ride across the state, and there was a 60 percent increase in both funding and riders. Among those slated to ride in this year's Red Ribbon Ride, which has been cut from three days to two to cut down on overhead, are many veterans from last year, and like Sanders each rider has his or her own reasons for riding, but they all share a commitment to making a difference in the AIDS epidemic.

Ride of his life

While Sanders and other riders were making their way across Massachusetts last summer, Emerson Miller, an HIV-positive Bostonian, was grappling with a recurring bout with pneumonia and other illnesses that threatened to end his life. By September 2004 things began to turn around when Miller got clean of drugs and alcohol and started a new medication regimen.

A couple months later Miller said Andi Genser, ride manager for Mass Red Ribbon Ride, visited AIDS Action's community advisory board, where Miller sits as a member, and urged them to take part. With his health improving, Miller decided to give it a shot.

"A year ago I couldn't walk hardly from the virus, and this year I can," said Miller. "A lot of AIDS organizations really helped me out, and I benefited a lot so I'd like to pay back."

The 42-year-old has been getting into shape by riding, swimming, and weight training, and he said the ride has provided him with the motivation to get back into shape after two years of debilitating illness.

"Andi said this is a life changing thing, and I'm sort of looking for an epiphany right now," said Miller.

For Dennis Duffy, an HIV positive AIDS Action board member who has participated in AIDS rides for the past 10 years, riding has been a powerful affirmation of his own health, but it has also been something more. "I'm very blessed in having the ability to still do something like this, and along with that blessing comes a responsibility to make sure with the best of my ability that we prevent a generation behind us of having to go through this," said Duffy.

Ten years ago Duffy, who lived in Puerto Rico at the time, saw a poster for the Pallotta Teamworks ride while visiting some friends in Boston, and he decided to sign up for the ride. "It seemed like a great challenge to be able to do something like that, and I've had this disease for 20 years, and I've lost a lot of my friends, so it was sort of my way of riding for them."

Spreading the word

Darren Wells, a Dorchester resident who teaches science at James P. Timilty Middle School in Roxbury, rode in last year's Mass Red Ribbon Ride, and before that he had been riding the Pallotta Teamworks rides since the mid-'90s. When it comes to fundraising for this year's Red Ribbon Ride, he plans to use a tried and true funding source he has used in years past: the middle school cafeteria.

Each year Wells asks teachers and students to donate one week's lunch money to the cause. Last year he found 200 people willing to donate, and this year he hopes to raise between $3000 and $4000 taking the same route. He said people typically balk if asked to donate a lump sum, but they are much more receptive when asked to donate money over a week.

"If you ask them for lunch money for a week, then they go, 'Oh, this is worthy cause,'" explained Wells.

Wells said as a science teacher he is grateful to be able to contribute to organizations that do research on HIV, and he also uses the rides as incentive to keep in shape. And as a teacher Wells said he hoped his own participation in the ride would inspire others to get involved in the fight against AIDS.

Now that the spring weather is returning, it's likely Wells' students and colleagues will see his dedication firsthand as he works to get in shape for the ride. Once the winter weather broke, Wells began his yearly ritual of riding his bike back and forth to school, to his part-time job, and back home, as well as training on his bike in his off hours.

"Any meetings I have to go to, anywhere I've got to go, I'm on my bicycle," said Wells.

For Tony Armelin, an administrator at Northeastern University, the ride is also about raising awareness. This year marks his eighth AIDS ride, and he is organizing two teams of riders, one from Northeastern and one made up of members from Dignity Boston, an organization of GLBT Catholics. While the Catholic Church has a history of ignoring or attacking its gay members, Armelin said Dignity's participation in the AIDS ride shows their commitment to the central tenets of their faith.

"This is absolutely what being a Christian is all about: to make oneself available to make things better in the world. I think this is a good example of what it means to be Christian in spite of what the pope says about gay people," said Armelin.

An avid cyclist, Armelin said he is also beginning to train for the ride, and he said he plans to build up his endurance along the bike path in Arlington and along the hills near Northeastern. He said one of the highlights of training is running into people and rekindling the friendships made on each ride.

As spring approaches you reconnect with people, and as you start to go on training runs you run into the people," said Armelin. He said the sense of community and the sense of purpose that he felt last year brought him back for round two.

"At some point there's just this realization that what you're doing is about more than being physically fit, It's about being connected with these people and sharing something that makes a difference, and that's what keeps you going.," said Armelin.

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