“You and Becky had an amazing vision 12 years ago!”
Someone said that as we celebrated following last Saturday’s FREEDOM TOUR CLASSIC. I hope I didn’t sound disrespectful when I laughed.
When we began, we didn’t have vision and mission statements. We just wanted to ride bikes and support kids rescued from human trafficking. The idea that it would lead to anything as remarkable as what happened last Saturday wasn’t a glimmer on our radar.
Our “vision” sort of developed on-the-fly around some key ideas.
Becky insisted, over, and over again, “It’s about community.” It’s always been about bringing people together to ride bikes and support the kids.
We’ve been clear that our purpose is to follow Jesus’ invitation to seek justice. We work toward “setting things right” from God’s perspective. That means healthy, transparent relationships as well as doing what’s in our power to set things right for the kids at the Home of Hope.
We’ve been surrounded by incredibly dedicated, generous people. We believe Jesus brought those folks to us at the right time. None of this would’ve happened without them.
And there’s one thing I believe we’ve done right by NOT doing it… we didn’t focus on money and fundraising. That might surprise you, since we support a group of kids who desperately need financial support. But we’ve allowed fundraising to happen organically.
We believe Jesus holds our kids in His hands, that He held them long before we showed up, and that we are privileged to join Him in caring for them. If we are faithful, if we bring people together with no strings attached, fundraising happens as it should.
Our first ride in 2013 raised about $7,000. By the time we’re finished this year, this amazing community will have donated well over $800,000 to the kids at the Home of Hope.
I don’t know how that works. It certainly has nothing to do with my vision.