A German cyclist and former firefighter is riding across America to raise awareness of rare diseases afflicting children all over the world.
In coordination with the Munich-based organization “Care for Rare”, Jörg Richter embarked on his journey back in April, leaving from San Francisco. He’s crossed several states already in his quest to make it to New York by September 20th, stopping by children’s hospitals along the way.
Jörg said one of his main goals with this initiative, other than raising awareness, is to motivate people to be grateful for their health and mobility. He said he feels that people can learn a lot from these brave children who are battling these chronic illnesses.
He explained, “I think it’s good to see those kids and how they still enjoy life and how grateful they are when someone shows up and just has a day of fun day with them because that’s what they miss the most in the hospital.”
This is not the first year Jörg is riding across America for Care for Rare. He shared that during his first charitable trip through the States, while he was venturing through Plymouth he met the Editor of the Culver Citizen, Beth Paré. The two stayed in touch and she’s been housing him during his stay in the Marshall County area.
In addition to the hospitals, Jörg said he made a special addition to this year’s trip, by stopping by fire stations as well. The idea to incorporate those stops came to him when he found his old firefighter membership card a few weeks before leaving on the trip.
He got in contact with German authorities who wrote him a letter of recommendation which led to multiple connections in the states, with fire stations across the country offering to give him a place to stay when he passed through their hometowns.
He stated, “From day one out of San Francisco, the firefighters in the U.S. supported me.”
Jörg visited the Plymouth Fire Station on Monday. Although he did not need a place to stay while he was in this area since Beth had that covered, they offered to contact some people in South Bend so he has somewhere to go while he’s there.
Jörg will be passing through Plymouth again today as he heads north.
As he enters the final weeks of this trip, Jörg said he’s already thinking about the future. He said he intends to write a book and is already arranging to do a tour around Germany next year in order to raise awareness on European soil as well.
To learn more about the Care for Rare organization or to make a donation visit Care-for-Rare.org/en.
The full interview with Jörg, conducted on Tuesday, August 7th can be found below:
