Local Man Bikes 1300+ Miles To Raise Money For Children In Kenya
By Chelsea Lacey-Mabe
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- In February Jim Parisi and his wife Gail did as many other couples do—they left chilly Pennsylvania for a vacation in sunny Florida.
Once their week's stay was up Gail flew back home to Ambler but her 71-year-old husband clicked on his blue and gray Bell helmet and started his much-longer journey biking back to the City of Brotherly Love.
Parisi's children were the inspiration behind the trek. His now son-in-law Nick had biked to Sea Isle City all the way from California a few summers ago to rejoin Parisi's daughter Jennifer on a beach trip. Meanwhile, Parisi's son Jack and daughter-in-law Crystal are highly involved with Chariots For Hope, a non-profit that helps orphaned youth in Kenya.
Parisi decided to put the two together and bike to raise money for Chariots.
"We thought it was awesome even the bike ride apart from him wanting to help chariots," said Crystal Parisi who is also the program director for Chariots of Hope. "It was just so sweet because he said 'I want this to be bigger than me, I don't want this to be all about me riding my bike and I want to have more motivation than just doing something for myself."
For the last year Parisi has been making daily trips to the YMCA and going on bike rides with Gail to train for the big trip.
"Once I went through part of Georgia and South Carolina and North Carolina, Virginia—it was pretty tough, especially Virginia where the hills were half a mile long," noted Parisi who put in 30 to 50 miles a day while pulling a 175-pound cart full of his belongings hitched to the back of his bike.
On the road Parisi stayed with friends and relatives and relied on apps like Couch Surfing and Warm Showers, a worldwide community of cyclists that open their homes to touring cyclists for free overnight stays.
"I talked to as many people as I could and handed out as many Chariots for Hope cards as I could," said Parisi. "But I really wanted to get back home."
His hard work paid off. Last Sunday Parisi pedaled up to his daughter's house in Fairmount to complete the last leg of his journey three weeks ahead of schedule. He's less than $1500 away from meeting his $5000 fundraising goal on GoFundMe.
Chariots for Hope is committed to providing for orphans so they can complete the highest level of education. Their mission is to make sure they're eventually able to sustain themselves as adults rather than just entering back into the cycle of poverty that they come from as children.
"These kids need a lot of help and that's one of the main reasons I really got inspired to do something for them," said Parisi, who is happy to be home and looking forward to celebrating his grandson's first birthday next month. "I would do it again."