By DAVID G. LANDMANN
CTSF Strategic Communications
It wasn't only the Central Technical Support Facility, cycling community that participated in the annual Ride 2 Recovery, or R2R, April 16 to 21.
In past years, only a handful of CTSF staffers were part of the annual fund-raising ride designed benefit mental and physical rehabilitation programs for the nation's wounded veterans. Each worked to raise the mandatory $3,000 per person donations so they could bicycle the R2R route from San Antonio to Arlington -- some 400 miles -- with recovering veterans representing every branch of American military service.
This year, when two members of the CTSF family, Technical Director David McClung and Bill Crain, a program specialist with AAI Corporation, announced they were going to make the week-long journey, several members of the facility's Test Division, jumped into action.
Test Division staffers Valerie Meverden, Julie Bridges, and Donna Bryant initially staged snack and bake sales to raise money to help McClung and Crain reach their donation goals. The three then managed to get their hands on three brand new bicycles and conducted a raffle with the bikes as the booty. At the same time, all three began selling Bryant-designed CTSF-R2R t-shirts to co-workers as a means of raising cash.
While McClung and Crain trained for the then upcoming week of cycling, the Test Division group staged an on-campus luncheon at which the winning bicycle tickets were drawn, and a few more dollars were added to the R2R coffer. The featured speaker at the luncheon was Lt. Col. Patty Collins, whose leg was amputated after she was hit by a car while cycling. Collins described the experience of overcoming her personal physical challenge, and, having herself ridden in previous R2R events, the inspiration she gained from two-wheeled travel with, in some cases, multiple-amputees.
To cap their fund-raising efforts, Bryant, Meverden, and Bridges produced CTSF-R2R hand towels they offered to all comers for $5 donations.
When all was said and done, Test Division Chief Madeline Wright presented McClung and Crain with a check for $500.
McClung, who had relied on college and corporate connections for donations, said his share of the Test Division fund-raisers put his R2R gift over the $10,000 mark. Crain's share also put him well over the minimum suggested $3,000.
Where McClung and Crain were able to take the personal time necessary to ride all six days of the San Antonio-Arlington R2R, several of their co-workers were able to manage the Fort Hood to Waco leg of the journey. CTSF staffers Wayne McCart, David Landmann, Coleen Crouch, and George Dias all donned Team Army riding "kit" and rolled out on the morning of April 19 from III Corps Headquarters with the more than 200 R2R participants. Each of the four also made personal donations to the R2R effort.
When the double column of R2R cyclists pedaled out of the circular driveway in from of the III Corps Headquarters building, a dozen CTSF employees, all wearing their CTSF-R2R t-shirts and waving their CTSF-R2R towels, were there to support their co-workers.
"I think it's really wonderful the way the CTSF got behind this program to support us," McClung commented during a brief check presentation ceremony, "and to support the wounded warriors the Ride 2 Recovery benefits."
"It's a real blessing," he added.
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Note: This year was Crain's fourth in the R2R Texas Challenge. After his first year in the bicycle tour, he was asked by organizers to assist Staff Sgt. Patrick Ziegler in training for the 2010 event. R2R provided Ziegler, one of the first victims of the November 2009 Fort Hood shootings, with a specially-made, ultra-light tricycle. Crain, along with Collins, were able to ready Ziegler, who was paralyzed on one side of his body as a result of his wounds, to ride several miles on the specially-made "Project Z" trike.
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