Bay Windows - September 29, 2005
Ethan Jacobs, ejacobs@baywindows.com.

"I think people found her, besides being just a great person, I think a lot of people were inspired by her example," said Andi Genser, ride manager for the Mass Red Ribbon Ride. "You live who you are, and I think a lot of people saw that."

During an interview with Bay Windows this spring for an article about the Red Ribbon Ride, Sanders shared her story about how she got involved in HIV/AIDS activism (see "Bicycling For A Cause," May 12, 2005). Growing up in conservative Chattanooga, Tenn., she was kept in the dark about the cause of her parents' deaths, and it was only later in life that she discovered that her father, a closeted gay man, had unknowingly passed the HIV virus on to her mother. She moved up to Massachusetts about five years ago to attend Northampton's Hampshire College, and a year and a half ago she attended an open house for the first Mass Red Ribbon Ride, which marked the beginning of her work as an AIDS activist.

She signed up for the ride, and when it came time to send out her fundraising appeals, she sent letters home to friends, family, and other community members in Chattanooga, explaining that she was raising funds because she had been orphaned by AIDS. She told Bay Windows that while some in the community had been hostile to her father, who they blamed for her mother's death, the response to her fundraising letters was overwhelmingly positive. She would find as many as five letters at a time with fundraising pledges when she checked her mail each day, and she was touched by the response.

"Everyone from Tennessee was so grateful and really praised me for taking this on, and that really surprised me," she told Bay Windows.

At that first open house for the ride she also met Court Cline, volunteer coordinator for AIDS CARE/Hampshire County, an AIDS service organization based in Northampton. Cline said Sanders began volunteering with AIDS CARE as part of their buddies program and was matched as a buddy with a person living with HIV. She also helped organize AIDS CARE's annual Chocolate Dessert Buffet and Silent Auction fundraiser. Cline, who said Sanders became a close friend over the past year and a half, said he was impressed by her commitment to social justice.

"I was blown away by her," said Cline. "She was just such a dynamic young woman who really had such an incredible sense of the connections between HIV and violence and poverty, just everything."

He said the two of them had planned to go down to Washington, D.C. last weekend to protest the Iraq war, and she got involved in a number of other causes. Sanders had spent five years working for Safe Passage, a domestic violence shelter in Northampton, and she was riding home from that job when she was killed.

After one year riding solo in the Mass Red Ribbon Ride she helped form an AIDS CARE/Hampshire County team this past summer. She raised about $2400 for the ride, and her team pulled in more than $15,000. Sanders also helped run training rides for participants leading up to the ride and held a fundraiser, and she did several press interviews to raise the profile of the ride. Genser said Sanders was shy by nature, but she was willing to share her story publicly to help promote the ride.

"I think she understood that her story was so compelling and her commitment was so deep that she was willing to do what it was going to take," said Genser.

Sanders died the morning of Sept. 22 after colliding with an armored truck at around 9 a.m. on Elm Street on the Smith Campus. Northampton police say she was riding on the right side of the truck when it took a turn. She was pulled under the truck's wheels and died at the scene. Northampton Police Officer Robert Powers said no charges are being filed against the driver of the truck.

"We've closed the investigation with the culmination that there was no negligence on the part of the driver of the truck... . It is an unfortunate accident," said Powers.

Critical Mass, a bicycling advocacy group that Sanders volunteered with, is holding a memorial ride Sept. 29 gathering at 5:30 at Pulaski Park in Northampton. Riders will put candles on their bikes and ride from the Smith campus to East Hampton.

On Oct. 2 her family and friends will host a celebration of her life at the Red Barn of Hampshire College at 1 p.m. People are invited to bring photos, memories and food to share.

Cline said he will remember Sanders as much for her compassion as for her activism.

"She was just one of the most giving people I had ever met. She was very genuine in her giving and just able to talk to anyone in a genuine clear way, no hidden agendas or ulterior motives," said Cline. "She was just a very good person in that way. You felt like you could do anything when working with Meg. It felt like anything was possible."

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