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Family set to ride 6 wheels for 1 cause

 

Saturday, June 14, 2008By Stephanie Brown

sbrown@sjnewsco.com

GLASSBORO Whether heading down the shore, taking a Caribbean cruise or camping in a national park, many families across the county are gearing up for their annual summer vacation.

But how about traveling cross-country on a bicycle with only a backpack and the wind in your hair?

In three days, one Glassboro family will do just that.

Matthew Sparacio, his wife, Laureen, and brother, Jonathan, are preparing for a bike trip that will take them from coast to coast this summer. The 4,300-mile bike tour, which starts in Anacortes, Wash., and ends in Rockport, Maine, is a fundraiser they organized to help an orphanage in Africa.

“It’s hard to focus on things outside of your own world, but there are people who are in far worse situations than you,” Matthew Sparacio said. “So, if you can find a way to do something you enjoy and also help other people improve their lives, you should take advantage of the opportunity.”

Last year, the Sparacios created a non-profit organization called Wheels that Build to help those less fortunate than them.

For their first charitable endeavor, the Sparacios chose to help an orphanage in Nyeri, Kenya, that offers relief to children in the poverty-stricken country.

The Sparacios learned from a friend who had recently traveled to the location that hundreds of children are left orphaned in Kenya a devastating effect from HIV- and AIDS-related deaths. They also learned that, because of the profound poverty there, many young girls are sold into marriages, which often end up being abusive.

Hearing that and seeing pictures of the children there really spoke to Matthew and Laureen, who are both elementary school teachers.

“Our whole focus is children,” Matthew said. “When we saw the way they live and how the girls get sold into marriage, that really hit home for me. I can’t imagine the girls I teach being sold into marriage and being abused.”

Their goal is to raise $33,000 to help complete a building on the orphanage campus, which is run by the Missionary Sisters of Mary Immaculate. So far, they have raised about $22,000.

On Tuesday, the Sparacios will fly to Washington state, where they will begin their 60-day bike tour a day later.

During the trip, they’ll travel across 15 states at an average of 72 miles a day. In the evening, they plan to stop at campgrounds and occasionally at a hotel “if it’s cheap enough,” Matthew said.

Halfway through the trip, a support vehicle will join them. That will help pick up speed, because they won’t have to carry all of their supplies.

Until then, the Sparacios will be sent packages with four days’ worth of supplies that they’ll pick up from various post offices along the route.

A couple of those packages might contain a birthday cake. Both brothers will celebrate their birthday while on the tour. Matthew and Laureen will also be celebrating their one year wedding anniversary at the end of the month.

“Everyone keeps asking me how I roped Laureen into this,” Matthew said jokingly. “She wanted to do this.”

To prepare for the trip, the husband-and-wife team have been biking three days a week, traveling 30 miles each day and longer on the weekends.

Matthew, who had biked across the country several years ago, said they are as ready as they can be given their busy schedules.

“I keep telling everybody that there’s no way to prepare and work at the same time,” he said.

But, he added, they’ll start the tour off at about 50 miles a day and, as the tour pushes on, pick up the pace.

Jonathan, who is wrapping up his junior year at Glassboro High School, said he’s been biking 30 miles every day during the week, and 60 to 70 miles per day on weekends.

The 16-year-old is a three-sport athlete and had once biked from Maine to New Jersey, but admitted he was a little nervous about the cross-country trek.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Jonathan said. “I did the ride down from Maine, but this is going to be a completely different experience.”

But that apprehension won’t stop him from taking the journey.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said.

Posted: 06|15|08 at 5:32 pm. Filed under: Uncategorized. New here? Follow this entry via RSS 2.0. Comment | Trackback