About 10 days ago, I got the following email from Michael Craig Cox, a fellow participant in the 2004 Tour of Hope DC Fund-raising Ride:
First off, kudos for your Tour of Hope coverage on Operation Gadget. I, too, completed the ride last week, after raising more than $1000. My question is, have you heard, or seen, any final numbers for the total amount raised? I am sending out a final thank-you to my supporters and wanted to include this information, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere.
In response, I wrote:
Thanks for emailing me. I read my mail continuously, but, due to a
server migration I wasn’t able to access some email messages until this
week. I’m just going through that mail now.I got an email the other day from the Lance Armstrong Foundation saying that they raised almost $800,000 through the DC Fund-raising Ride and the Finale. That’s a good number considering the minimum donation for each of the 900 riders would only have brought in $450,000….
I realized that Operation Gadget readers would probably want to know this information as well, and wouldn’t have gotten the email unless they participated.
Remember that money raised by the Bristol-Myers Squibb Tour of Hope will benefit cancer research and encourage adults who have cancer to participate in cancer drug clinical trials. This is truly important work, because I believe it will lead to better therapies and cures for many different types of cancer. Lots of us will benefit from these innovations in years to come.