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| InNewsweekly - William Henderson August 11, 2005 |
H2B GIVES BACK 100 PERCENT!
ALL VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATION HARBOR TO THE BAY DONATES ALL THE MONEY RAISED DURING ITS ANNUAL BIKE RIDE, SCHEDULED THIS YEAR ON SEPT. 17
Do you know how much of an impact any money you donate to charity has? Do you know exactly what your donation funds?
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Harbor to the Bay supporters at Boston’s Pride Parade in 2005. |
If you donate to Harbor to the Bay (H2B), the sponsoring organization of an annual bicycle ride which takes participants from Boston to Provincetown, then you do know where your funds go because all raised money is given back to nonprofits moving toward a cure for AIDS and helping men and women currently living with HIV or AIDS.
The organization's founders, led by the late Michael Tye, had been disappointed when it was revealed that the now-defunct Pallotta TeamWorks, a group that produced a number of fund-raising events around the country, including the three-day Boston to New York AIDS Ride (which later became the Northeast AIDS Ride), used more than half of event proceeds to pay for its elaborate marketing campaigns and production costs.
Enter H2B, a 501(c)(3) community organization managed by volunteers, which uses donated supplies to advertise its annual event, and relies on the contributions and time of local bicyclists interested in helping, however they can, men and women living with HIV and AIDS.
There are two options for men and women interested in participating in the ride. For the more athletically minded, you can ride the entire 125 (sic) miles from Boston to P'town, or you can elect to ride from the Sagamore Bridge to P'town, effectively cutting the ride in half. Be warned. Veteran riders suggest practicing on hills, as the road in Truro is hilly, even if it doesn't feel like it when making the trip by car.
Launched in 2003, H2B has raised more than $250,000 and has given 100 percent of these funds to three local nonprofits: Fenway Community Health, the largest provider of HIV and AIDS medical care in New England; Community Research Initiative of New England (CRI), the only independent, nonprofit, New England-based organization solely dedicated to HIV clinical research, treatment education, and financial assistance for approved drug treatments and health insurance coverage; and to AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod (ASGCC), the sole HIV/AIDS organization serving Cape Cod's communities.
H2B divides event proceeds and raised funds in a way that provides the most benefit to each of the three organizations, Eric Santamaria, H2B marketing director and event participant, said. This year Fenway Community Health will receive 70%, CRI will receive 15 percent and ASGCC will receive 15percent. Donors, however, if desired, can earmark their funds to a specific organization, which would then be given directly to the chosen beneficiary.
Last year's event, despite an unexpected bout of rain, raised $134,000. This year, should rain again fall on the scheduled September 17 event date, a rain date of September 18 has been set-up. Event organizers are hoping to raise $250,000 this year - monies raised by the pedal-power of an expected (and hoped for) 150 riders.
According to CRI Deputy Executive Director Craig Wells, the funds CRI receives from H2B ($25,000 last year) have helped pay for clinical trials and fees associated with these trials not paid for by sponsoring drug companies. It's a windfall for the nonprofit, which is attempting to remain independent despite fiscally unsound times.
"Contracts don't pay for the full range of research," he said, "which is where the ride comes into play. It helps us cover costs and the involved overhead in our clinical trials. We have to rely on fund-raising and the generosity of people and corporations. It's a constant challenge."
This is the main reason behind H2B. The organization "endeavors to improve consumer identification with HIV/AIDS awareness, preventing infection, and caring for people impacted by HIV/AIDS," according to Santamaria. "[We] hope to build the trust of fiscally discerning donors who expect transparency and accountability from the charities they support."
This is why H2B annually publishes its books, making the information available online. It is also registered with Guidestar.org, a policing agency, of sorts, for nonprofits.
Accountability may not top the list of reasons Rob Phelps, CRI research participant, feels blessed to have benefited from H2B. Instead, he feels blessed that the trials have given him back his life.
"How do I break that down to a single thing? I've stopped thinking of myself as a sick person. I can work again. I can play again. I've gone to graduate school. I'm working on my novel. I'm planning for my future instead of just getting my accounts in order," Phelps said. "I have a greater appreciation for life, having been so close to death."
Harbor to the Bay ride is scheduled for September 17, with a rain date of September 18. For additional information, connect to harbortothebay.org. For additional information about the event beneficiaries, connect to their individual Web sites: fenwayhealth.org, crine.org, and asgcc.org. Riders can register up until the day of the event itself. Registration forms are available online. Registration is $50, with each rider expected to raise at least $1,500.
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| InNewsweekly -William Henderson September 15, 2005 |
DOING THE LEGWORK FOR AIDS
BUSINESSES: THE 'UNSUNG HEROES' OF AIDS BENEFIT HARBOR TO THE BAY BIKE RIDE
A lot of behind-the-scenes support goes into putting together this weekend's Harbor to the Bay AIDS benefit bike ride, the one-day 125-mile (or 68-mile ride for those opting to start the ride at the Sagamore Bridge as opposed to Club Café on Columbus Street) ride from Boston to Provincetown. |
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It's not just event organizers, including Jim Morgrage, the event's chairperson, who help make the ride a reality, but the numerous businesses, which support the ride.
The event, celebrating its third ride this year, donates 100 percent of the monies raised to Fenway Community Health, AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod and Community Research Initiative.
I'm humbled, really, to be blessed to be in a community where so many people step up to the plate, work, lend time and energy, and pledge support," Morgrage said earlier this year. "It's an understatement to simply say that our community pulls together and takes care of one another."
The first charitable AIDS bike rides were organized in 1994. In the past 10 years, these rides have collected an estimated $220 million, but this financial success was overshadowed when, in 2002, lead organizer, Palotta TeamWorks, closed after it was revealed it had used large portions of raised monies to pay operating and overhead costs.
As a result of this closure, local organizations were forced to seek financial support elsewhere. Community leader and philanthropist Michael Tye envisioned "Harbor to the Bay" (H2B) and teamed with Morgrage to then create the ride.
Since 2002, H2B has raised more than $250,000, with riders paying a $50 registration fee and also asked to raise $1,500 in pledges, and these figures are often paraded out when those involved with the event are asked to talk about it and drum up additional support. What often goes unmentioned, though, are the numerous businesses that help make the event a reality, from those that make in-kind donations to those that provide corporate sponsorship for the ride each year.
These businesses, according to Eric Santamaria, are often the "unsung heroes" of the ride, and include such major sponsors as Club Café, Bayside Betsy's and The Boatslip (both located in Provincetown), Jet Blue Airways, United Liquors, Computer Simple, SkyMedia Graphic Arts, and In Newsweekly.
Frank Ribaudo, who owns Club Café and Restaurant 209 (where Morgrage is general manager) has been HIV-positive for 21 years, lost a partner to AIDS in 1986, and has seen firsthand what the disease can do to a person.
But that's just part of why he and his businesses support the ride each year, he explained.
"The other part of it is that it just needs to be done," he said. "People are starting to think about AIDS like diabetes. You take some insulin and you're all better. The reality is that that's not the case. People are still dying, but we may not see them. The reason for that is that the gay community has pulled together and taken care of their own."
Bob and Henry Langlais of Computer Simple said that they and their business support the ride, not just because of what it means to the greater GLBT community, but for what it means to the men and women living with HIV and AIDS.
Along those lines, organization supporters will have the chance to win round trip plane tickets donated by Jet Blue as well as a Trek 1000-C bicycle donated by Ptown Bikes through a raffle. Prizes will be awarded on Dec. 1 at Club Café, following the Harbor to the Bay appreciation dinner. Raffle tickets cost $5, or three for $10, and can be purchased online.
But for Ptown Bikes' proprietor Bill Meadows, donating the bike is less about the number of raffle tickets it will help get sold, and more about helping out an organization "that seems like it's going to do a good job."
"I'm always happy to donate a bike for a raffle that looks like it will raise a significant amount of money," Meadows said during a recent telephone interview. "And anything that helps the folks on the Cape and in the greater Boston area is fine by me."
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| The following story was published in Bay Windows on June 9, 2005 |
PRIDE MARSHALL JIM MORGRAGE
By Ethan Jacobs |
As chairperson of the Harbor to the Bay AIDS bike ride, which has run for two years, Jim Morgrage has helped raise more than a quarter of a million dollars for AIDS service organizations in Boston and Cape Cod. Morgrage says he is grateful for the recognition, but he wishes that the late Michael Tye, who first conceived of Harbor to the Bay, were alive to see his ideas brought to fruition
"I always wonder what he would think of this," says Morgrage. "He never got to see his vision carried out." |
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Tye, former president and CEO of United Liquors, who passed away from bone cancer in the summer of 2003, first conceived of the ride as a response to the controversy around the Palotta TeamWorks AIDS rides from Boston to New York, which folded in 2002 after it was learned that a large portion of the proceeds, in some cases more than half of funds raised, went towards the production costs of the event. Tye and Morgrage had both participated in the Palotta TeamWorks rides as part of a United Liquors/Club Café team, and Tye convinced Tanquery Gin to become the ride's first corporate sponsor.
"The last year we were riding we were at a garden party in the South End and we sat down around a table and we were talking about Palotta," says Morgrage. "And there was a lot of hard feelings about the amount of money going back to the beneficiaries, and Michael said at that point, 'I envision a one-day ride that is really community-based.' And he said, 'Whatever you do, make it fun, make it simple, make it easy for people to do, and have a good time with it.'"
That January, Morgrage and other members of the United Liquors/Club Café team founded Harbor to the Bay, a ride from Boston to Provincetown that followed the principles that Tye had set out. Tye's illness made it impossible for him to take an active part in organizing the event, although Morgrage and the other members of the 25-member ride committee kept him informed about their progress. Tye passed away in June, three months before the first ride.
Morgrage was a novice at organizing a charity bike ride, but he looked at the Palotta TeamWorks model and thought of ways to improve it.
"Like any good gay man you take a look at what they're doing and say, 'Oh, I could do this better, I could do that better,'" says Morgrage.
In contrast with Palotta TeamWorks, all of the funds raised in the ride went directly to the beneficiaries. Morgrage says the ride was able to keep overhead to an absolute minimum by relying on volunteers and by shrinking the scale from the Palotta TeamWorks rides, riding for only one day and setting a cap on the number of riders. The first year featured 70 riders and a volunteer crew of 125; last year 87 riders and nearly 170 crew members took part.
"With Harbor to the Bay it's really important for us to stay small and limit the number of participants that we can have until we can find organizations that are willing to donate the things that we need logistically to carry out a bigger event. So we're working on really just kind of forging ahead slowly, and continuing to be out there and continuing to raise awareness," says Morgrage.
Beyond keeping down costs, the other major challenge in organizing the event has been publicity. The all-volunteer event has no marketing budget, and Morgrage says they have largely relied on word-of-mouth to recruit riders. The three primary beneficiaries, Fenway Community Health, Community Research Initiatives, and AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod, have recruited riders through their riding teams, as has United Liquors. Morgrage also credited Club Café owner Frank Ribaudo and Innewsweekly publisher Chris Robinson for helping spread the word about the event.
In keeping with Tye's vision of a grassroots event, Morgrage and other organizers worked with people in the communities along the route of the ride to get involved.
"We basically took the Palotta model, got volunteers to do pit stops and managed to get an amazing amount of local support from local businesses," explained Morgrage. "They did everything from breakfast the morning of to food along the way, water, Power Bars, Gatorade. They really kind of rallied around us."
And while the ride only lasts one day, Morgrage says the support of businesses in Boston and Provincetown has enabled organizers to plan an entire weekend's worth of festivities for the riders and crew members. Riders enjoy a cocktail reception in Boston the night before the ride and a hearty breakfast before they set out the next morning. After they arrive in P'town they take part in a parade through town, followed by a reception at the Boat Slip. The next day riders and crew members enjoy brunch at Bayside Betty's, and that afternoon the Crown and Anchor hosts a T dance.
With two rides under their belt and a third just on the horizon Morgrage says the committee feels like the work they put in to create the event from scratch has finally paid off.
"I know for us it's finally starting to get a life of it's own, and we're kind of like the proud parents, wondering what to do with that and hoping we can get the message out there and get them to sign up, because it's a good time and it's a great way to do something good for the community," says Morgrage.
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| Bay Windows, Laura Kiritsy, Associate Editor on July 22, 2004. |
AIDS RIDE REDUX
Harbor to Bay Ride pedals into its second year
Having lived with HIV for about 17 years, Gary Pasnick considers himself lucky. That's why the 45-year-old Dorchester resident is currently training for the second annual Harbor to the Bay Ride, a one-day AIDS benefit bike ride that will have cyclists pedaling 125 miles from Boston to Provincetown - or a making a shorter 68-mile trek from Bourne to the Tip of the Cape - on Sept. 13. "My obligation is to give something back," said Pasnick, who is also a volunteer organizer of the ride. "It's very, very important to me."
The fact that Community Research Initiative of New England (CRI) is one of Harbor to the Bay's beneficiaries makes the ride that much more meaningful to Pasnick. With sites in Boston, Provincetown and Springfield, CRI is the area's only nonprofit, community-based organization dedicated solely to HIV clinical research. The organization has produced research and drug testing data that has contributed to FDA approval of nearly half of the available HIV treatments - and Pasnick has taken part in some of those research studies. "I believe that because of them I'm still here," said Pasnick of CRI. "So it's just a real natural fit for me to ride for them. I'm one of the very lucky ones I would say."
As they did last year, Boston's Fenway Community Health and AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod (ASGCC) will also receive proceeds from the ride. With the addition of CRI to the roster of beneficiaries, Harbor to the Bay can channel funds to three critical areas on the continuum of care for those living with HIV/AIDS. According to ride chairperson Jim Morgrage, Fenway was chosen for its medical care and HIV testing component, ASGCC for its social services - among them transportation to medical appointments, meal programs, supported housing and needle exchange - and CRI "because we really wanted to do a little bit with helping to fund research." Morgrage stressed the importance of giving people hope that advancements are being made in stopping the disease.
Given the state budget cuts to HIV/AIDS programs in recent years, CRI Executive Director Julie Marston welcomed the opportunity to benefit from Harbor to the Bay. "There's never been more of a time when we need to collaborate and develop partnerships than we do now," said Marston, noting that AIDS service organizations have lost 40 percent of their state funds in the past two years. Like many other organizations, CRI, whose $2.5 million budget is comprised of state and federal dollars and in-kind donations, has seen its budget shrink because of the cuts, and the organization has been forced to diversify its funding sources, said Marston. Benefiting from Harbor to the Bay is a step in that direction.
Harbor to the Bay is a volunteer-driven, grassroots effort; keeping overhead costs as low as possible enables it to be a generous benefactor. A $50.00 rider registration fee covers incidental costs related to the ride, allowing every penny raised - a minimum of $1,500 per rider - to go directly to the beneficiaries. Last year, 70 riders raised a total of $123,500, said Morgrage; unused donations intended to pay for operating costs boosted the fundraising tally to $125,000. This year's goal is to boost ride participation to 140 - all of last year's riders plus one friend, Morgrage calculates - and double last year's take. About 50 riders have already signed on for this year's event, nearly half of them women, said Pasnick.
Donating 100 percent of the ride's proceeds to charity was a guiding principle in Harbor to the Bay's creation. The organization's founders, led by the late Michael Tye, had grown disenchanted with the now-defunct Pallotta TeamWorks, a group that produced a number of fundraising events around the country, including the three-day Boston to New York AIDS Ride (which later became the Northeast AIDS Ride), when it was discovered that in many cases more than half of the money the events raised paid for the Pallotta's elaborate marketing campaigns and production costs. Pasnick, a veteran of seven Pallotta events, recalls feeling embarrassed when asking friends to donate money for the rides, knowing that just 50 cents of every dollar he raised actually went to AIDS organizations.
Stephen Coady, a volunteer organizer who will be making his maiden voyage as a Harbor to the Bay rider this year, also emphasizes the benefit of the organization's grassroots approach. "One-hundred percent goes to the beneficiaries; that's what really makes us unique. And also the fact that it's a grassroots effort, it's a very community-based, community-oriented effort."
That community spirit is also reflected in the fact that at 125 miles - or 68 - Harbor to the Bay, unlike the Pallotta rides, is a much shorter trek, making it accessible to a wide spectrum or riders: You don't need to be Lance Armstrong to complete this ride. As a crew member for last year's ride Coady observed "a lot of diversity as far as physical fitness and ability among riders," as well as riders of varying ages. The ride is challenging, Coady added, "but not to the point where it's exclusive of anybody who really wants to do it. It's important to note it's not a race." Riders are encouraged to train properly prior to the ride and make the 7-10 hour trek from Boston to P-Town at their own pace.
Though the Harbor to the Bay's most important goal is to give badly needed funds to HIV/AIDS organizations, organizers say there's more to the ride than money. With infection rates rising, particularly among young people, Morgrage notes, the ride also serves as a means to talk about HIV/AIDS and to remind people that the disease is still with us.
For Morgrage, the best part of Harbor to the Bay is the people: "[The] bottom line is working with such an amazing community and working with such a very dedicated bunch of volunteers." With the endless of loop of bad news and negativity on TV and in the newspapers, said Morgrage, "it's like a light at the end of the tunnel to see all of these people coming together."
For Pasnick, the ride offers a deep sense of empowerment. He recalls pedaling across the finish line of the California AIDS Ride for the first time and thinking, "If I can do this - riding my bike 500 miles - I can do anything."
For more information or to register for the Harbor to the Bay Ride, visit http://www.harbortothebay.org or call (617) 274-4560.
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| The Boston Globe By Dorian Block, Globe Correspondent, 9/21/2003 |
AIDS RIDE GAINS MOMENTUM
$150,000 raised for treatment
When the annual New York to Boston AIDS bike ride went under, six-time rider Michael Tye sought to fill the gap in funding and inspiration. President and CEO of United Liquors, Tye conceptualized a ride from Boston to Provincetown, where every dollar donated would go to the cause. Registration fees would cover the overhead.
Then Tye died of bone cancer this summer.
''When he died I was bummed. I thought there goes our ride,'' said Gary Pasnick, a friend of Tye's. ''But when I went to the funeral I looked around and thought this is our ride,'' said Pasnick, in reference to the thousands who attended Tye's funeral. ''The race gained momentum.''
Tye's friends met weekly at Club Cafe, a social center of the South End's gay community, to plan the first 125-mile Boston-to-Provincetown ride. Businesses donated their services and each of the 62 riders raised $1,500 required to participate in last Saturday's ride.
Pasnick, a manager at Club Cafe, has participated in eight AIDS rides. ''Before, I felt powerless. The first time I did the ride I felt powerful over the disease,'' said Pasnick, who has been HIV positive for 16 years. In the past, Pasnick rode for his friends who have died as a result of the virus that causes AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome. ''I stopped writing names down when I got to 50,'' he said. ''This time I'm kind of riding for myself,'' he said.
Dr. Steve Boswell, executive director of Fenway Community Health, said he has seen a 10 to 20 percent increase in new infections this past year -- the same period public funding was cut by at least 40 percent. His clinic, where the first case of AIDS was diagnosed in 1981, now treats more than 1,200 patients with the disease, and will split the ride's proceeds with AIDS Outreach Cape Cod. Many of Boswell's patients rode in the ride last weekend, and he stood on the sidelines, cheering them on.
Frank Sutter, in charge of publicity for the ride, emphasized the lack of awareness among gay youth about safe sex. ''They don't think of prevention. They think you get it (AIDS) and live with it. But the best way is not to get it.''
Pasnick coasted along a bend toward the end of the route and looked over Massachusetts Bay. ''We have friends scattered in the bay. The last couple of miles is devoted to them,'' he said.
The riders say they take inspiration from Tye's spirit. In Tye's eulogy, friend Thomas Leavitt described how Tye made the three-day Boston-to-New York ride one year into cancer treatment, with a hip replacement, wincing in pain. When Leavitt met him at a pit stop Tye said, ''Whatever I am feeling has to hurt less than someone living with AIDS.''
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
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| The Boston Globe By Megan Tench, Globe Staff on 9/14/2003 |
AIDS RIDE RETURNS ON DIFFERENT COURSE
Smaller, steadfast effort from Boston to Provincetown
Because the popular Boston-to-New York bike ride for AIDS shut down in a swirl of controversy last year, about 60 cyclists came out yesterday for a new ride, one that they say will prove the fund-raiser can be done right. The AIDS ride began at 6 a.m. in front of the popular South End hang-out Club Cafe and ended 125 miles later in Provincetown. So far, the cyclists have raised $125,000 for AIDS/HIV research and outreach. ''People didn't think we could do it, but we did it,'' said Frank Ribaudo, the owner of Club Cafe, who added that donations keep pouring in.
However, organizers of the first Boston-to-Provincetown ride stressed, 80 percent of the proceeds will go directly to the Fenway Community Health Center, which last year severed ties with the massive Boston-to-New York AIDS ride. The rest will go to the Cape Cod AIDS Support Group.
The separation occurred after the ride's major corporate organizer, Pallotta TeamWorks, a Los Angeles fund-raising company, came under fire when critics complained that only a small percentage of fund-raising proceeds actually went toward AIDS and cancer research while the rest went to high overhead costs. ''People riding in the ride felt like, `Why are they raising thousands of dollars when only 30 percent goes to where they intended it to go?' '' Ribaudo said. After raising hundreds of millions of dollars for AIDS and cancer groups, last year nearly all Pallotta's clients, including the Avon walk for breast cancer, broke ties with the company. Facing several lawsuits, Pallotta TeamWorks closed its doors in August 2002, ending the Boston-to-New York AIDS ride and other fund-raising efforts.
Yesterday's ride was dedicated to the late Michael Tye, a former Fenway Community Health Center board member who challenged his friends to organize yesterday's effort. A faithful AIDS ride participant, Tye died in June of bone cancer. He was 49. Before his death, Tye convinced his friends that a local effort could be effective at raising money.
Currently, the Fenway center provides direct care to more than 1,300 AIDS patients.
''During last year's ride, he had cancer and could barely walk, but he said it's easier to ride than walk, so last year he rode from New York to Boston,'' Ribaudo said of his friend.
At first, no one believed that such a ride could be done, added Thomas Leavitt, a past president of the Fenway board of directors and ride organizer. "We were a little skeptical . . ., but Michael was a visionary,'' he said.
More than 100 local businesses, and 120 volunteers, including medical personnel, donated time and resources, organizers said. And Tye's vision of having 100 percent of the proceeds go directly toward patient care and research was fulfilled beyond the group's expectations.
''These were talented men and women who have full-time jobs but also believed this could be done,'' Leavitt said of the ride participants. ''There were pit stops and food stops, and donors knew that every one of their dollars went straight to the beneficiaries.''
Plans are already in the works for next year's Boston-to-Provincetown AIDS ride, said Leavitt, who added that even if the event grows, organizers will never hand the reigns over to major corporate organizations. ''If they want to send a check, that's fine, we will send it right along to the beneficiaries,'' he said. ''This ride is about respecting the donors' dollar and letting them know that every dollar will help support HIV and AIDS research.''
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company |
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