Five-day bicycle ride to raise money, awareness for Norwich diocese Outreach to Haiti
Norwich — For the second consecutive year, a team of bicyclists from the Diocese of Norwich Outreach to Haiti Ministry will lead a five-day long distance bike ride from Freeport, Maine, to Connecticut to raise awareness and funds for rebuilding in Haiti.
The money raised will go to the capital campaign to rebuild the Outreach to Haiti clinic and mission house, which largely were destroyed in the earthquake of 2010.
The ride is a virtual cross-country trip of Haiti, 337 miles — the length of a trip from the West Coast of Haiti in Jeremie, through Port-au-Prince, where Outreach’s ministry is concentrated, to Cap-Haitien on the North Coast.
The ride will start in Freeport, Maine, on Monday and will touch five of the six New England states, progressing through New Hampshire and into Massachusetts near Boston on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the riders cross into Rhode Island, and on the last two days, will wind through Connecticut.
On Thursday morning, the group is expected to arrive at the Cathedral of St. Patrick in Norwich. The Most Rev. Michael R. Cote, bishop of Norwich, and students, teachers and administrators of St. Patrick’s Cathedral School will greet the riders about 8:30 a.m. The Diocese of Norwich is "twinned" with the Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince after signing a special covenant in December 2000.
On Friday, the final day of the ride, the cyclists will head for Mercy High School in Middletown, which is twinned with Foyer des Filles de Dieu, a girls' orphanage in Haiti. The girls at Mercy all contribute to the support of the orphanage, and maintain a cultural exchange with the orphanage.
The two riders from last year, Tom Campbell, a board member of Outreach, and Dan O’Sullivan, the director of Outreach, will be joined for the entire trip by board member Karl Falconer. On Thursday, they will be joined by Jim Hubert, who also rode for a day last year, and Monsignor Jim Carini, making his inaugural ride.
For more information about the ride, visit www.outreachtohaiti.org/ride-to-rebuild.
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