Hello everyone,

With only a few days before the Thanksgiving holidays, we hope that everyone will be taking the time to be with their families and reflect upon the things they have to be thankful for.

Charity Treks is so thankful for the group of dedicated riders and volunteers that are part of our extended family. Year after year, we find hope, support and rekindled friendships at our August “reunions”.

We are already hard at work preparing our 2014 reunion, and can’t wait to tell you some of the changes we have in store. But first, let’s wrap up 2013 . . .

DONATION TOTAL FOR 2013

Drumroll please . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The final amount raised for 2013 is $85,835.91. Considering the number of riders we had, 2013 had the highest average amount raised per rider in our history.

The total amount will be split equally between the Emory Vaccine Center and UCLA AIDS Institute. We are currently coordinating check presentation dates for the 2 locations.

Congratulations to everyone involved !!

TOP FUNDRAISERS FOR 2013

From the “Please Don’t Be So Humble” dept., we would like to acknowledge the top fundraisers for the 2013 event:

Michael Moore – $17,734.00
Richard Abrusci – $9,334.99
Bert Crinks – $5,650.00
Quinton Beckham – $5,025.00
Fred Ury – $4,950.00

We would like to thank them for their superb efforts, and hopefully they’ll share some of their fundraising secrets with the rest of us mere mortals.

REGISTRATIONS FOR 2014

We currently have 8 riders and 4 crew registered for the 2014 event. We invite you to visit our website and register for the 2014 event, or perhaps recruit a friend or family member into the extended Charity Treks family.

NEW ROUTE FOR 2014

We will still be leaving Burlington, VT and ending in Portland, ME, but many of the points in between will be changing. In fact, Mark has confirmed that over 50% of the route for 2014 will be different !! (OK, temper that excitement; over 50% for Mark might mean 50.0010301175 %).

Nonetheless, the route will be quite different for returning riders and completely different for new riders. We know you’re itching to register. Go ahead; visit our website at charitytreks.org and click on the “REGISTER ONLINE” button at the top of the page.

GOALS FOR 2014

For the 2014 event, we decided to give ourselves some goals to shoot for. We’re hoping this will motivate our extended family to help us reach these goals, and have our most successful year ever.

So here goes: in 2014, we’re hoping for 75 riders, 35 crew and $150,000 in donations.

Please help us reach these goals by starting your recruiting or fundraising efforts sooner, rather than later.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!