AEGiS-BAYW: AIDS Ride to honor healing crash victim: Top fundraiser will miss race, but contributions keep rolling in

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

AIDS Ride to honor healing crash victim: Top fundraiser will miss race, but contributions keep rolling in

Bay Windows - August 4, 2005
Ethan Jacobs, ejacobs@baywindows.com.

Less than three weeks before the Mass Red Ribbon Ride, a two-day AIDS charity bike ride across the state, the event's top fundraiser, Shawn Fields-Berry, 45, was struck by a car while he was riding in Duxbury July 27. Fields-Berry returned home from the hospital to East Bridgewater with his wife, Deborah, July 31, but his injuries, which include a fractured shoulder and broken ribs, mean that he will still be recuperating when the ride takes place Aug.13 and 14. Yet for the members of his riding team, Fields-Berry's dedication to the cause has inspired them to plow ahead, and in the days following the accident they have surpassed their team's $10,000 goal by more than $600.

"The best way to honor Sean through his convalescence is to do what he would want us to do and do what he would do himself," said his teammate Cameron Culkin, a friend of both Fields-Berry and his wife for the past 15 years.

Culkin visited Fields-Berry in the hospital June 30 and spoke with him the next day. He said Fields-Berry is recovering at home but is still in terrible pain.

"It's going to be a slow recovery with his injuries," said Culkin. Fields-Berry and his wife declined to speak with Bay Windows for this story, explaining that they wanted to hold off further press interviews until after Fields-Berry had spent a few more days recuperating at home.

What makes Fields-Berry's accident particularly maddening for his fellow riders is that he has been the Red Ribbon Ride's safety guru since the pilot ride in 2003, which was organized by AIDS Action, one of the major partner organizations that puts on the ride. He helped plan the ride's safety protocols as part of the ride committee and even helped produce the safety video that all riders see prior to embarking on the ride. He was struck by Robert Parsons, a 44-year-old Kingston resident who was driving with a suspended license.

"This is not any old bike rider. This is someone who is very safety conscious and very safety aware," said ride manager Andi Genser. "I think this is part of why a lot of us got shook up about this.... As safe as we all try to ride, when you get a car against a bike, the car wins every time."

Fields-Berry, a die-hard rider, honed his safety skills for the past eight years, taking part in the now-defunct Boston-to-New-York AIDS rides before the launch of the Mass Red Ribbon Ride. He first got involved after the death of a family friend and mentor from complications from AIDS.

"What he has told me is that in his helplessness of not being able to help his friend, he found the AIDS rides to be an outlet in which he could do something," said Culkin.

Fields-Berry's commitment proved infectious. A longtime member of the Society of Elder Faiths, a Bay State pagan religious organization, he convinced the society to sponsor a rest stop for riders during last year's ride. The stop was canceled, as was the third day of the ride due to rain, but they will host a stop this year on the first day of the race.

More importantly, this year Fields-Berry formed the first riding team for the society, recruiting three other riders including Culkin. The team has done exceptionally well with its fundraising, and Culkin credits much of that effort to Fields-Berry.

"He is a very motivated and passionate man about this cause, and if anything we were letting him carry our fundraising for the most part. We were all doing our bit, but his fundraising was amazing," said Culkin.

Of the team's $10,605 total, Fields-Berry raised more than $6000. Fields-Berry's total puts him more than $2000 above any other rider participating in the event.

Genser said he has also helped the ride organization as a whole. Beyond his work on the safety video, he has spoken to prospective riders at outreach events and helped train new riders to prepare for the rigors of a two-day bike trip.

At press time Genser said she was uncertain how the ride would choose to acknowledge Fields-Berry in his absence, but she said his work would not go unacknowledged.

"He's a stellar human being," said Genser. "This is a compassionate, caring, fun deeply committed individual. For our ride he's done so many things to be helpful for us."

To sponsor Fields-Berry's team on the ride or to volunteer, visit www.massredribbonride.org or call 617.450.1100.

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