Fund Raising an Uphill Battle for Local AIDS Ride Activists

When signing up to pedal halfway down the California coast for charity, bicyclists figured that steep grades and 80-mile days would offer challenge enough.

But even before they mount up this weekend, 31 Ventura County residents who are joining the second annual California AIDS Ride face an even tougher task.

Each rider must raise at least $2,200 in pledges. The 530-mile, weeklong trek from San Francisco to Los Angeles is expected to attract 1,500 riders and raise more than $4 million for clinics in the two cities.

In Oxnard, Ventura, Camarillo, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, some riders are struggling to rustle up their share of the funds. They say neighbors, employers and friends are slow to give money to a cause they would rather not think about and to clinics far from home.

For months Simi Valley resident Ligia Fein has carried a thick stack of pledge sheets, but most of them remain blank.

Last weekend, looking to sign up supporters, she set up her stationary bicycle in front of a Simi Valley supermarket, pedaling nonstop for several hours. The results were disappointing.

“People would see me and see my sign with the word AIDS on it and they would look away and walk in the other direction,” she said. “They just don’t want to think about it. They think it is not their problem.”

So far Fein has managed to raise $1,100. If she cannot raise the rest, she will have to pay it herself, according to the rules of the ride.

“Raising the money has been a lot harder than I thought,” she said. “It has been harder than training for the ride.”

Sarah Goldfarb, a Ventura resident, still needs about $300 to reach the pledge goal.

“I definitely did not realize what a big sum of money it is to try and raise,” she said. “Especially because a lot of people do not want to give to a cause that is not based in Ventura County.”

The reluctance to take out the checkbook and give riders a boost stems also from another, unlikely place.

Doug Green, director of AIDS Care in Ventura, said that although he supports the ride, his agency is not aggressively promoting it because it does not directly benefit services in Ventura County.

Green said he fears the event will dilute the support his agency is counting on for its annual AIDS Walk in September.

“When they called and asked for our support, I said, ‘What’s in it for me?’ ” Green said. “They are cannibalizing some of the funds we could be raising here for programs in Los Angeles.”

Jeff Masino, director of the Los Angeles AIDS Ride office, grew up in Oxnard and attended St. Bonaventure High School in Ventura. He is well aware of the fund-raising difficulties some riders face. Donors should be more generous, he said, because the Los Angeles clinic serves many Ventura County residents, providing services not available here.

“The clinic is there for everyone,” Masino said. “We don’t turn anyone away.”

Some riders are enticing donors with gimmicks or are hitting up generous employers.

Janet Lawson, a Ventura lawyer, promised contributors a ride on her 41-foot yacht later this month. Nearly 60 donors took the bait, pledging close to $3,000.

“I have had a tremendous response,” she said. “It has been really gratifying.”

David Thompson’s employer, a Carpinteria-based software company called QAD, kicked in more than $1,000 in donations and matching funds.

“They have really helped a lot,” said Thompson, a Simi Valley resident.

For Thompson, the ride will culminate six months of intensive preparation for a cause he believes in deeply.

“The way people are treated when they have AIDS is less than human,” he said. “I want to raise awareness, because these are people who deserve our love and care.”

The riders are scheduled to camp out on the beach in Ventura May 19 on their way to Los Angeles.

FYI

For more information about California AIDS Ride, to make a pledge to a rider or for other donation information, call (213) 993-7628.