Mayor Daniel Brown and Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett greeted riders with the Ride:Well Bike Tour as they arrived in Knoxville Wednesday as part of a 3,300-mile, cross-country ride to raise awareness and funds for the effort to provide clean water to communities in sub-Saharan Africa.
The ride supports Blood: Water Mission, an organization dedicated to developing clean water wells and supporting medical facilities and programs to address the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. According to its website Blood:Water Mission has worked with more than 1,000 African communities so far to bring clean water and improved health care to 600,000 people in 13 different countries.
The riders have been on the road since leaving San Diego in mid-June as part of Ride:Well's Southern Tour. Knoxville wasn't originally on the course but a last-minute change of plans led them here today.
A separate Ride:Well Bike Tour is riding a 2,000-mile course along the Pacific Coast. The rides have raised more than $300,000 during the past two years.
The riders are staying in Knoxville tonight before heading into Virginia tomorrow. The ride is slated to end on August 7, at Virginia Beach.
Ride Well Tour
The Ride:Well Tour, powered by Venture Expeditions, is a cycling campaign to raise money and awareness for clean water & HIV/AIDS support in Africa through the work of Blood:Water Mission.
In the past two years the Ride:Well Tour has raised close to $300,000 to provide clean water projects, clinics and educational opportunities for our friends in Africa while educating people in countless communities across America about the water & HIV/AIDS crises many Africans face everyday.
This year they will be cycling across the southern half of the United States and north along the Pacific Coast to provide people in Marsabit, Kenya with clean drinking water, hygiene & sanitation education and latrines.
Blood Water Mission
Blood:Water Mission is a grassroots organization that empowers communities to work together against the HIV/AIDS and water crisis. It's core purpose is to build community through creative social action.
Blood:Water Mission exists to promote clean blood and clean water efforts in Africa, tangibly reducing the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic while addressing the underlying issues of poverty, injustice and oppression. Blood:Water Mission is building clean water wells, supporting medical facilities, and focusing on community and worldview transformation, both here in America and in Africa. Read more about Blood:Water Mission.