http://www.joplinglobe.com/010916/regional/story5.html
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2001
Organizers of the 17th annual Multiple
Sclerosis Society’s 150 Bike Tour are expecting at least $450,000 in pledges
during this weekend’s fund-raiser.
A total of 805 bicyclists participated
in the bike tour that began Saturday morning at Republic High School and
will end this afternoon at Baxter Springs, Kan., High School.
Many of the participants were expected
to camp in and out of Joplin High School Saturday night.
The bike tour was expected to travel
this morning to Neosho, Racine and Seneca in Missouri before going into
a part of Oklahoma and then ending this afternoon at Baxter Springs.
Debbie Bevan, branch manager of the
Ozark Branch-Mid America Chapter of the National MS Society in Springfield,
said although riders expect $450,000 in pledges, they may actually collect
up to $500,000 by the time the pledges are due on Oct. 12.
The fund-raising bicyclists range
in age from 5 years old to 79 years old and they live in the Ozarks region
including Joplin, Springfield and Mount Vernon.
Some riders also live in Oklahoma,
Arkansas and the Kansas City area.
Bevan said Barbara Boone of Houston,
Texas, flew in to participate in the bike tour.
Boone’s twin sister, Trish Ayers
of Ozark, has MS.
Boone and Trish Ayers’ husband, Kent,
are among “Team Trish” whose goal is to raise $20,000.
Eighteen people are on The Empire
District Electric Co.’s team called “Team Empire.”
Bevan said seven people are on the
Neosho Holy Smoke’n Rollers and most of them are first-time participants.
Six people are on Mount Vernon’s
“Cooperiders;” 19 people are on Aurora’s “Studebikers;” and five people
are on Tamko’s “Roof Riders.”
“You don’t have to be on a team to
ride,” Bevan added. Bicyclists may ride as individuals.
Participants paid a $35 registration
fee. Each rider had to raise $150 in minimum pledges to participate in
the bike tour.
Bevan said 1,011 people registered
for this year’s bike tour, but 805 are actually participating.
Last year, 940 people registered,
740 people participated and raised $436,000 in actual pledges.
Peter Herschend of Branson raised
an estimated $88,000 for the bike tour last year, and he’s expected to
raise a similar amount this year.
Leigh Reynolds, the Mid-America Chapter
of the National MS Society at Kansas City, said 15 percent of the gross
in pledges will pay for costs associated with the bike tour.
Of the net in pledges, Reynolds said,
60 percent will stay in the local community and 40 percent will go to the
national level for research.
Bevan said the Springfield branch
covers 26 counties in Southwest Missouri and Bourbon, Cherokee and Crawford
counties in Kansas.
The official purposes of the bike
tour include raising money to support research projects and client programs
for people with MS and educating people with MS about new drug therapies
that are available to them, according to past news statements.
All content ©2001 The Joplin
Globe
By Nammi Bhagvandoss
Globe Staff Writer