Ride to Roma

The non-profit association GEOforCHILDREN is organizing from July 26 to July 29, 2018 the new project RIDE TO ROMA, a charity initiative to raise money to support the activities of the association in favour of orphan children.

RIDE TO ROMA consists of a four-day cycling towards Rome. The project will begin on July 26 from Ronchi dei Legionari (GO), where the association is headed, and will end on July 29 2018, in Rome. The project will involve the founder and president of GEOforCHILDREN, Paolo Ferraris, the vice-president Gianluca Bagata, and the entire team of previous projects.

RIDE TO ROMA follows the 2016 and 2017 projects: RIDE TO MOSCOW and RIDE TO DOLOMITI.

RIDE TO MOSCOW WAS a cycling tour of more than 2500 km from Italy to Moscow, which took place from July 29 to August 14, 2016. Through sponsorships and donations the project raised more than 72000 euro.

RIDE TO DOLOMITI was a five-day cycling tour across the Dolomites, from Friuli-Venezia Giulia to Trentino-Alto Adige. Through sponsorships and donations the project raised around 15000 euro.

The aim of these projects was to raise attention on GEOforCHILDREN’s activities and to raise fund to supportthe A Door for Life initiative.

RIDE TO ROMA is a four-day cycling tour, from Ronchi dei Legionari to Rome.

RIDE TO ROMA will involve 7 cyclists and friends. Paolo Ferraris and Gianluca Bagata (president and vice-president of GEOforCHILDREN), Alessandro Ferraris, Arturo Giustina, Vincenzo Noschese, Alberto Aldighieri and Antonio Coppola, who will join the group for the first time this year. The team will be supported by a group of volunteers.

RIDE TO ROMA consists in a four-day and more than 600 km tour. The ride will start on the 26^th of July from Ronchi dei Legionari, where the association is headed, and after three intermediate stages , will arrive in Rome on Sunday the 29^th of July.

The aim of RIDE TO ROMA is to raise attention on GEOforCHILDREN’s activities in favour of orphan children and especially on the A Door for Life initiative, as well as raise money to support it.

The initiative RIDE TO ROMA was created to promote the new fund A Door for Life, raising money for young boys and girls living in very difficult conditions.

Since its foundation, the association has carried out several projects to support boys and girls from two orphan institutes in Moscow. The project A Door for Life consists in organizing courses in different disciplines, according on the level of preparation of the children and their inclinations. With this project we want to support the boys’ and girls’ talents and be with them every step of the way throughout their growth, giving them the chance for a better future.

After some years of support activities for orphan children in Russia, the time has come now to move ahead and extend our activity to other countries. In particular we are starting a cooperation with the “Hand to Hand Foundation” in Thailand, founded by Mrs Margaret Grainger from Australia and operating in Pattaya area, which is one of the major city in Thailand. The Foundation carries out many activities to help children, teenagers, young mothers, patients and poor people. The Foundation takes care of children coming from difficult situations, organizes activities and works for them during the day, provide them food, clothes and toys, and basic medical care. Our aim is to cooperate with them to give our help and support to more children.

This year again GEOforCHILDREN is organizing a multi-stage cycling tour with the aim of raising money. The bike idea come from the shared passion that brings together the entire team. But there is much more than passion behind this initiative.

The decision of undertaking a long cycling trip comes from the desire of the entire team of going beyond their limits, and of sending a message to all those who will follow them and to children the Organization was established for.

By bike as well as in life the most important thing is never give up and always believe in themselves and in others. Self-confidence is fundamental, but if you put your faith in others as well, if you travel surround by good friends, even the most difficult path will be a little simpler and lighter.

This is the message we want to send to all the young people who feel alone, abandoned, not understood. No matter how hard the future may seem, with strength and determination, relying on themselves but having trust in others as well, it is possible to overcome limits you think you couldn’t overcome and reach goals you think you couldn’t reach.

This is the message we want to give to all the people we will meet and who will follow us: with effort, determination, passion and collaboration we can try to give an alternative to young boys and girls who believe they do not have any.