The 14th annual Ride For Roswell will be held this Saturday, June 27 2009 at the University at Buffalo. Last year the Ride included 6,500 riders and over 1,000 volunteers, and raised over $2,000,000 in support for the Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
This year I am actively involved with the Ride, helping support their social media efforts. With full support from the Ride Committee, we are using a variety of social media tools to help riders tell their stories. The hub for all our efforts is RideConnect, a Ning site where riders and volunteers are encouraged to share their stories with blog posts, pictures and videos. We also have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, FlickR, and YouTube.
We plan on kicking things into high gear the day of the ride. We hope to have an active Twitter backchannel (The hashtag is #RideForRoswell) and to use social media to cover the Ride as it happens with the following ideas:
- We have included the hashtag on the back of the tee shirts that will be given to all riders and volunteers
- We will be distributing a small flyer as part of the rider packet informing riders of the RideConnect site, how to use Twitter the day of the Ride, and a photo contest for the best picture posted to RideConnect
- Large screen computer monitors and projectors will be set up at the University at Buffalo to allow people to tweet, post pictures and videos, and see the Twitter backchannel
- I will be tweeting live as I ride in the peloton, and will be working with several volunteers to help cover the Ride live through our various social media channels
On a personal note, my daughter and I have been riding for 6 years not because we was directly impacted by cancer, but because it is such a worthwhile cause and a great life lesson for my daughter. This year it will be different. This year is personal. An immediate family member has been diagnosed with cancer. Thanks to the wonderful care at RPCI, the prognosis is as good as can be expected for such a serious disease. And I am thrilled that many members of my family will be joining my daughter and I on this year’s ride.
Please consider supporting me as I ride on behalf of cancer patients by going to http://giving.roswellpark.org/netcommunity/markgr. And special thanks to those of you who have already made a donation.
Hi Mark,
Sounds like a great cause. Best of luck. I hope everything turns out for your family member.
Jeff
Sadly, it has come so far that every person I know has a family member, close or more distant, that has been diagnosed with that disease. Fortunately, the death rates are going down, but we still have a long way ahead. Best of luck to you and your family!