Welcome to the page of

Grant Burke

$1,609.50

Raised to Goal of $6,500.00

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Welcome to my Friends for Life Bike Rally page!

So, I'm doing the Friends for Life Bike Rally in support of people living with HIV/AIDS in 2025. Why am I doing this again? Well, three reasons:

The first reason is that I didn't get to complete the ride last year. The final leg into Montreal was rained-out. Hurricaned-out, to be precise. I have unfinished business, and bets to win.

The second reason is that I've been asked to be a team captain! For reasons only know to him, Jordan, my 2024 Captain saw me oiling peoples chains and lugging other peoples' equipment around for them, and thought I was leadership material.

Sure.

Whatever his thinking, I was honored(not to mention very, very surprised) to be asked and accepted. I look forward to making everyone on my team feel welcomed, supported, and as informed as can be before and during the ride.

The third reason is the most important: I'm raising money for a great cause.

I grew up with HIV being the boogyman; reading early news stories about gay cancer, and then watching it rampage through the community on the evening news. As a baby fag, it underlined my early years of being out; I was afraid of catching it; I watched people I care about get it and I lost people to it. To this day I continue to see people contracting it, and dealing with it, sometimes not well.

HIV is a lifelong challenge; can you afford your meds? Are you having mental health and self esteem issues because you're positive? Are you estranged from your family or communities because of your status? I'm lucky(emphasis on the word lucky) enough to not have to face any of that.

So this year I am once more taking my good fortune and hoping to raise six thousand, five hundred dollars by pedaling my ass off for 6 days. The money raised goes to organizations that help people living with HIV/AIDS in Toronto, Kingston, Montreal, and for the first time officially, Ottawa! These organizations help people who need food, wellness care, and peer support, or just need to be in a place that is welcoming and safe for them.

And to coax you to donate, here are three things I’m offering:

Sponsored rides! -Yes, if you give me money and tell me your sponsoring me for a ride, I’ll go out and do a training ride in your name, and I’ll post of pic of me doing it on the social media. Sponsorship is 1$ per KM up to 100$, then its 2$ per km. For example: if you donate 200$, I’ll do a 150km ride (ugh). All sponsored rides overs 80 km will wait until I can get outdoors, the rest will be inside.

Tune Ups: If you want, donate 100$ and I’ll tune up your bike! Since I have 20 years experience fixing bikes, I figure I might as well us it to good end. Tune up are for labour only, repair parts will cost extra.

Finally, the big one: for $500 or more, Author and Journalist John Ibbitson will come and do a talk! If you have an event, book club, group or class, and you live in the Ottawa area, John will come and talk about stuff that he’s written, about the political scene, about his years as a journalist - whatever is relevant and interesting to your group. If you’re out of town it’s a 1000$ donation, and you pay transport & lodging.

You can help support me by making a secure online donation using your credit card.

This cause is close to my heart, and I hope you can join me in supporting it!

Thanks,

Grant

Achievements

No Badges Have Been Earned

Personal Progress:

of Goal

$1,609 Raised

$6,500.00

Fundraising Honour Roll

Jon and Fred Sherman

$1,000

Christine and Charles

$102

Grant Burke

$102

David Nesbitt

Sandra Miller

$102

Anonymous

Nola Ibbitson

$51

Rori Caffrey

$25

Grant Burke

$1,609.50

Raised to Goal of $6,500.00

Achievements

Donate

I'm raising money again! You should give me some, again!