A team of 20 American students and graduates took to their bikes on a 4,000-mile journey to heighten cancer awareness and raise money for cancer treatment and research.
College Students Take to the Road to Raise Money for Cancer Research
A team of 20 American students and graduates took to their bikes on a 4,000-mile journey to heighten cancer awareness and raise money for cancer treatment and research.
Made up mostly of undergraduates from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Illini4000 team set off May 23 from New York City, where they spent the previous night preparing for their trek at the Chabad Resource Center of Columbia University. By the middle of this week, the effort had raised $50,000, which will be split between the American Cancer Society and Camp Kesem, a summer camp for pediatric patients and survivors of cancer.
Speaking from western Pennsylvania on Wednesday, Illini4000 co-founder Jonathan Schlesinger said that the trip is all about human compassion.
“I can’t tell you how many times complete strangers have gone out of their way to help,” said Schlesinger, an Illinois graduate. “When one considers the fact that we sleep on the ground and eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to keep our costs down, this support – be it through shelter, food or a hot shower – not only allows us to increase our donation, but it also provides the invaluable moral support that we need to face the wind, rain and mountains each day.”
