Biking for Hunger

An estimated 6 million children die every year of starvation. That breaks down to 16,000 per day. These heartbreaking statistics came from David Armstrong’s web site www.bikeforhunger.com. Marysville resident, David Armstrong, is riding his bike 1,900 miles, from Vancouver, Canada, to Tijuana, Mexico, to raise money for the Feed the Children fund. During his trip an RV filled with a team of supporters is following him. They are making frequent stops to hold a variety of fundraisers along the way.

Armstrong’s journey started from a conversation he had with some friends over a few drinks. After stumbling upon the devastating statistics of children dying of starvation every year, the group of friends pondered the dilemma. They were discussing how if everyone were to help out a little, then these children wouldn’t be in this situation. They began to ask themselves, “If it is and it is this simple, then why isn’t everybody pitching in to help feed these dying children?” Armstrong remarked, “the question so dumbfounded me that I could only stand up and pronounce, ‘I’m going to ride my bike from Vancouver to Tijuana.'” Little did they all know that the spir of the moment idea of his would soon become an amazing adventure for the whole group. Of course if didn’t just happen over night. Armstrong knew he wanted to help the kids, but it took a lot of soul searching and research before Armstrong came up with the plan and the right charity organization. He described the plan as “an evolution of ideas.” Originally the team was going to go one time, cross-country, but decided on an annual event instead. The heavy populations of people on the route made them decide on the distance between Vancouver and Tijuana. The team hopes to finish the first annual event in November. “Hopefully we will gain a lot of supporters along the way, and the event will grow every year,” said Armstrong. “We want to gain support for the charity.” Feed the Children is a team o amazing people with big hearts who are dedicated to giving food to starving children all over the world. Their passion for the cause and their amazing reputation caught the attention of Armstrong and his team. One hundred percent of the money he and his team will raise will go to the Feed the Children charity organization. The team consists of friends and colleagues of Armstrong. They are also keeping in touch with a variety of supporters through My Space, email and phone. There are two main purposes to the journey. One is obvious: to raise money for Feed the Children. There will be fundraising events in different cities every week. The first to kick it all off was at the Allen Scott Youth Center in Marysville. There they had a tri-tip dinner, silent auction and raffle. Upcoming events will include a soccer tournament and a benefit concert. You can keep up with their fundraisers on their web site www.bikeforhunger.com. The second purpose of Armstrong’s journey is to raise awareness, not only of the problem itself, but also of the solution. We all have jobs, school, families and countless other responsibilities in our lives that already have us wishing for more hours in the day. But if we simply took a few moments to drop off some feed at a local food locker, or kept track of out spare change for a month or two and gave that to a charity like Feed the Children, we would be doing our part. Every little bit helps put food in a hungry child’s mouth.

We don’t have to drop everything to travel across the country to help. Just make a donation to your local food locker. There is one located at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Marysville. Or help Armstrong’s team directly by making a donation to them. They are accepting both cash or credit donations and items to be raffled off or sold at their silent auctions.