AEGiS-Miami Herald: A SMART route for AIDS/HIV fundraising: The Morningstar Renewal Center is sponsoring a bike ride to raise money for AIDS and HIV patients and their families.

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

A SMART route for AIDS/HIV fundraising: The Morningstar Renewal Center is sponsoring a bike ride to raise money for AIDS and HIV patients and their families.

Miami Herald - January 5, 2006
Yudy Pineiro, ypineiro@MiamiHerald.com

Hundreds of bicyclists will trek from Pinecrest to the AIDS Memorial in Key West to raise money for AIDS and HIV patients and families.

More than 200 bicyclists will gather at the Morningstar Renewal Center at 5 p.m. Thursday for a candle-lighting ceremony to kick off the third annual Southern Most AIDS/HIV Ride 3, or SMART. Morningstar is a retreat center owned by the Archdiocese of Miami.

The two-day, 165-mile ride to Key West does not start until sunrise Friday. The cyclists reach Key West on Saturday. They will close with a ceremony at the AIDS Memorial.

'This is literally a grass roots group, just a bunch of friends for the most part who got together and said, 'Let's do something,' " Glen Weinzimer, director of SMART, said.

Weinzimer estimated the ride will raise more than $350,000. All of the funds will be donated to charities, including AIDS Help, Broward House, Compass Inc.'s Hug Me Program, South Beach AIDS Project and Trinity Charities.

He said the money will go toward medical care, education, housing, social services, drugs, emergencies and financial needs -- not administration or salaries. Each rider raises $1,200, mostly from relatives, friends and/or co-workers.

Weinzimer, who said he is an HIV patient, said some riders are infected, others "are riding for a partner. Some are riding for a child they lost."

"They, through their action, are ministering," said Catherine Espinosa-Sailsbury, a spokeswoman for Morningstar Renewal Center, 7275 SW 124th St.

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For more information on the Morningstar Renewal Center, call 305-238-4367 or visit www.morningstarrenewal.org. To donate to SMART, visit www.thesmartride.org

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