Shannon and Clifton mentioned the disabled veteran ride alongs at the last driver's meeting and this sort of rekindled an idea I had last year and after meeting a few folks wednesday night I came up with what I feel is a great offering we as a group can help with.
One charity that has always had a spot in my heart is Make a Wish foundation. My best friend in highschool lost his sister to Luekemia and they granted her a wish and in my mind has been the only great charity out there. Since then, other similar organizations have popped up that are more specific to their "wish". One I recently was introduced to is Challenge Air ( www.challengeair.org ). They offer up airplane rides for severely or terminally ill children and have outstanding support from the Aviation community to get these kids up in the air and put a smile on their faces. I think we have a similar opportunity to spread our fortune as race car enthusiasts.
So, I have sent Shannon an email to check their interest in involvement with a similar type of program. This is all in the very early planning stages but the premise would be for those of us who have passenger seats to give 3 to 5 lap parade rides to these types of kids in a partnering effort with other organizations. I think this would be a helmets off 5/10ths type of session that we would take the kids out during lunch break and put a smile on their faces and could possibly even do parent rides at a quicker clip and helmets to let them experience it too. I have sort of decided to get a little more enjoyment out of this sport by sharing it with those that may never get a chance to do it themselves.
I know a few of us have passenger seats in our cars and I will offer up to do this both for the vets and especially the kids but I don't want to be the only one. So, I offered up to Shannon to poll you guys to see who else would like to get involved for either opportunity. No committments at this time but want to see what the feedback is like. It could be an entire day of racing for the kids both in the pits, ride alongs and in the stands cheering us on! Something I think that would do them well and probably be a lot more attainable than the usual Nascar race and could probably bring us some well deserved publicity in the mean time.
So, who all would like to chip in to be part of this? I think the veteran thing is starting at College Station but the kids deal might have to wait a while as we sort things out...thinking Houston in October at the earliest. Responding here is fine and thanks in advance.
MW
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