Re: 4/18/01 - NH Register: Friends gearing up for benefit ride
Friends gearing up for benefit ride
Marc Murray, Register Staff April 18, 2001
GUILFORD — It’s not a race, but two cyclists who are gearing up for a charity ride from Boston to Cape Cod next month can’t help looking at it that way.
Guilford residents Michael Moretti, 35, and Peter Palumbo, 36, push each other when they work out at the gym, and now they’re challenging themselves to make the most of the Hyannis Port Challenge to raise money for people with mental retardation.
"Once you get on the bikes, everybody wants to be the first one there," Palumbo said.
The two even boasted they will keep up with renowned cyclist Greg LeMond, who also has signed on for the ride. "We’ll be ahead of him," Moretti joked.
The May 19 ride begins at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston and runs about 85 miles to the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port, where riders will be treated to a clambake.
The ride benefits Best Buddies International, a nonprofit organization founded in 1989 by Anthony Kennedy Shriver to provide integrated employment opportunities and one-to-one friendships for people with mental retardation.
About 350 people are expected to join the ride, according to Best Buddies.
Palumbo, owner of Palumbo’s Automotive in Guilford, joked that he’s already got his friend beaten in the community-service category. He’s volunteered his time for the Guilford Community Fund, the ABC House and an AIDS bike ride from Boston to New York City.
Moretti, an IBM sales representative, said he is glad to turn his competitive spirit into something that benefits others. "I feel like I’m blessed, and I need to start giving back," he said.
Both men registered for the event in the toughest category, agreeing to raise $3,000 apiece. On May 6, they will hold a fund-raising party at the VFW post on Mill Road. The event will feature live music, pizza and a raffle.
The party runs from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults and $5 for children. All proceeds go toward the friends’ pledge goal. To buy tickets or make a donation, call Moretti at 668-7053 or Palumbo at 415-7831.
There are local Best Buddies chapters at Amity Regional High School, Hillhouse High School, Sacred Heart Academy, Gateway Community College, Sacred Heart University and Yale University.
In 1999, Best Buddies established the Suzanne Jovin Memorial Leadership Fund in memory of the Yale student who was found stabbed to death in New Haven’s East Rock neighborhood in 1998.
According to a group spokeswoman, Jovin was director of the Yale chapter. The fund helps pay for chapter directors to attend the group’s annual leadership conference, the spokeswoman said.
©New Haven Register 2001
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