Biking For A Cause

Utah State University Professor Mike Glauser recently traveled through Saratoga as a part of his seven week journey to raise money for student scholarships.

The goal of the fundraiser, called “Pedaling to End Poverty,” is to dramatically reduce poverty around the globe. Glauser is joined by his wife, several colleagues and a documentary crew to film the experience.

Glauser and his team are following the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail, a 4,228 mile route that runs from coast to coast. The trial was originally created to celebrate the 1976 Bicentennial and the beauty of areas across the country. Since then, the route has hosted thousands of journeying riders.

The main goal of Glauser’s journey is to raise money for the Small Enterprise Education and Development (SEED) program at Utah State University. The program sends students trained in entrepreneurship to mentor people in other countries for one semester. So far, students have been sent to Ghana, Mexico, the Philippines, Peru, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic and Cambodia.

“We send them out all over the world to teach families that live in poverty how to build microenterprises and increase their household income,” Glauser said. “The goal is always to double the household income of every family that we teach.”

The program works with partners in other countries as a part of the experience.

“The partners are usually schools, churches, government agencies, non-profits or after-care centers and they find us people to teach. They have people already teaching life skills and then we come in to teach the business skills,” he said.

Glauser said the experience has a profound effect on the students.

“The students come back and they generally tell us two things. One, ‘I didn’t realize I hit the jackpot in life. I won the lottery and I’m so blessed.’ Two, they say ‘I want to live a life of service. I don’t want to be a taker anymore, I want to be a giver,’” Glauser said. “So it gets them off that treadmill of self centeredness and has them develop an outward focus on the people in their lives. The change is dramatic.”

The group plans to use this journey as a way to publicize the program and put eyes on the fundraiser. Through their website, people can donate for as little as one cent per mile, 100% of which goes towards student scholarships.

Glauser emphasized the experience while biking as worthwhile.

“It’s a microcosm of life. You have good days, you have bad days. You have tailwinds, you have headwinds, rain and beautiful sunshine, hard mountains to climb and steep downhills, it’s just an amazing experience,” he said.

To donate or learn more information about Pedaling to End Poverty, visit www.pedalingtoendpoverty.org.