Joe Gagliardi (back row, far left) and Mary Schlitz (front row, far right) are among 77 young adult missionaries through the United States who participated in Biking for Babies in July. (Submitted photo)
Members of a nonprofit organization that helps raise money for pregnancy resource centers nationwide pedaled through Wisconsin on the 600-mile trek from Green Bay to St. Louis.
The organization, Biking for Babies, raises money for pregnancy care centers and pro-life organizations, which provide support for pregnant women experiencing an unplanned or crisis pregnancy. That can include free ultrasounds or providing baby supplies.
This year, the Biking for Babies National Ride occurred from July 8-13. It consisted of 77 young adult missionaries from around the United States. Cyclists train in the spring for the pro-life ride, which helps them prepare for the unpredictable summer weather conditions they face as they cycle hundreds of miles a day to raise awareness.
There are nine teams of riders and support crew, all considered missionaries with an average of eight to nine missionaries per ride. There were 10 missionaries on the Wisconsin team, said Sarah Wiese, Director of Operations and Marketing for Biking for Babies.
“Teams ride throughout the country, spiritually uniting their efforts with a woman facing an unplanned or difficult pregnancy,” Wiese said. “Along the way, they share with passersby what they are doing, who they are doing it for and why they are doing it. They invite those communities into the same awareness that life is good and worth supporting.”
Jimmy Becker and Mike Schaefer, who were students at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, founded Biking for Babies in 2009. The two were growing in faith and virtue and encountered St. John Paul II’s exhortation, “Woe to you if you do not succeed in defending life.” They acted on this exhortation by getting on their bikes and riding across Illinois to support mothers with unplanned pregnancies. The two men rode 600 miles that first year and raised more than $14,000 for Living Alternatives Pregnancy Resource Center and Students for Life of Illinois.
This year, the National Ride began from nine locations: Green Bay; two teams from Columbus, Ohio; Minneapolis; Huntsville, Alabama; Albany, New York; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Lincoln, Nebraska. Six routes converged in St. Louis and three routes ended in Arlington, Virginia, following a lap at the National Mall. Both concluding locations featured Celebration of Life events.
The missionaries partnered with 100 pregnancy resource centers across the country and the goal was to raise $450,000 to provide financial gifts to the centers.
Two riders from the Wisconsin Team, Joe Gagliardi and Mary Schlitz, explained they enjoy tangibly helping real people.
“The money we raise goes to pregnancy resource centers, which provide resources to women and families who are experiencing crisis pregnancy situations. Physically, biking is a great way to grow in faith because it was through suffering that Jesus showed his love for us,” said Schlitz, a first-year biking missionary from St. Charles, Illinois. “We are also able to unite our suffering with the physical pain that women experiencing pregnancies go through. I see God through the other missionaries as they put the needs of others above their own, whether it be helping to fix a flat tire, filling water bottles, or simply through the team bonding we have along the way.”
This is Gagliardi’s third year riding for Biking for Babies. He became involved after his college roommate, also a rider for the organization, inspired him to tag along.
“I am from St. Paul, Minnesota, and my mission was to ride 600 miles with the team this year, or 100 miles per day,” he said. “We trained for three to four months leading up to the event, or between 1,500 and 3,000 miles.”
Riders are away from home for seven days and support-crew missionaries train to navigate and help the team, said Wiese.
“They help with directions, keeping them hydrated, fed and safe on the bikes, and encourage the riders,” she said. “They also plan the community engagement events along the way, plan the team’s lodging, keep the team stocked with groceries and supplies, do the daily laundry and on top of it all, pray. They, too are, partnered with pregnancy resource centers, are a part of the seven-month formation program and are equally as important to the mission as the riders.”
Along the way, those in the communities that riders encounter are supportive and thankful for the Biking for Babies missionaries.
“They often join us in our mission by donating, praying and sharing through different media outlets,” said Wiese. “This includes people we encounter at grocery stores and gas stations, too.”
The fundraising goal for each missionary is $3,500, but Schlitz said she has gone beyond that thanks to generous donations from local parishes in the Diocese of Rockford.
“Most of our donations are one-time or monthly gifts made to support individual missionary fundraising goals, though we fundraise nationally as well,” said Wiese. “The money we raise supports the mission of Biking for Babies, and as an organization, we also tithe to our pregnancy center partners.”
In 15 years, Biking for Babies has formed 216 riders and support crew missionaries, who have raised awareness and more than $1.6 million for 127 U.S. pregnancy centers and maternity homes.
The organization helps young adults joyfully and sacrificially live the Gospel of Life, grow in virtue, and raise money and awareness for pregnant moms and pregnancy centers. Biking is the adventurous, creative hook that brings them into the mission.
For more information on joining or donating, visit www.bikingforbabies.com.
