HARTSVILLE -- Hartsville native Scott Cameron will spend 17 days this May pedaling 800 miles from Miami to Tallahassee, Fla. The annual ride, Gear Up Florida, raises money for children and adults with mental and physical disabilities.
“It’s more than just a bike ride,” Cameron said.
Gear Up Florida takes 30 riders and a crew of seven across Florida making Friendship Visits along the way. After each day’s ride, the riders and crew will spend time with children and adults with disabilities in activities from barbecues to fireside sing-a-longs, to dinners and dances.
“The ride’s bigger than yourself,” Cameron said. “You’re not just doing it for yourself. That’s what gets me through training sometimes. When I really want to give up, I sit and I think, ‘It’s not for me; it’s for someone else.’”
Push America, the charity organizing the ride, also holds a longer ride from Seattle to Washington, D.C., and San Francisco to Washington, D.C. The transcontinental ride is called the Journey of Hope.
The funds raised will go to the various organizations that serve people with disabilities throughout the country on the Gear Up Florida and Journey of Hope bike routes. Organizations can apply for grants from Push America to help fund further activities as well.
The two rides together raise a half million dollars for people with disabilities.
Push America was founded in 1977 by Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, which is how Cameron got involved.
He is a sophomore studying French at Furman University, and he plans to continue his studies at International Business School.
“I actually had heard about the ride before I got to college,” Cameron said.
When he joined Pi Kappa Phi, he learned the reasoning behind the ride and decided to take on the challenge in January. All the riders and crew members come from different chapters of the fraternity across the country.
“I’m the only one from Furman,” Cameron said.
The Hartsvile High graduate played on the tennis and swim teams, and he said both of his parents are avid athletes, so “doing something to raise money and awareness wasn’t totally out of the question.”
To prepare, Cameron’s been riding 75 miles on weekends and 100 miles each week on his father’s road bike. During the event, he will have to ride 60 to 100 miles a day.
Cameron’s fund-raising goal is $3,000, and he is halfway to meeting that goal.
There are multiple ways people can contribute. You can text PUSH 232 to 50555 to donate $5. You can donate online at secure.pushamerica.org/scottcameron, or you can send a check made out to Push America to Cameron at P.O. Box 330 Poinsett Hwy., PMB 27751, Greenville, SC 29613.
Donations over $25 are tax deductible.
Cameron’s father Scott and step mother Donna Durante Cameron live in Hartsville. His mother, Leslie Doss, and step-father, Tony Doss, live in Pendleton, S.C.
Info: scott.cameron@furman.edu,
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