By Stephanie Springer - bio | email
ALBANY, GA (WALB) - In an effort to help local charities a Cook County pastor has just embarked on a tremendously long bicycle ride around the peach state. His goal is not only to raise money but to shine light on other issues as well.
Chris Newbern works as a pastor in the small city of Adel Georgia, but he is attracting a large group of fans as the "pedaling pastor." A pastor with a bike and a life changing mission.
"That's becoming my handle, the pedaling pastor and I have a fan page, pedaling pastor on facebook, as of this morning I had 601 fans, so I was excited about that," said Chris.
The name stems from a bike riding fundraiser he created to help raise money for local charities in cook county.
"If a town like Adel were to lose one of its industries or vital businesses we would hurt greatly. I'm convinced that's no less true of our local charities," said Chris.
Chris left Sunday on a 700 mile, 12 day journey stopping at several cities in Georgia. He is riding to raise money for 9 local charities but he also wants to bring attention to state parks during his trip. He says every dollar put into a state park generates $29.00 towards the local economy.
"I will be camping at several of our state parks when I ride most days will be about a 60 mile trek from park to park but ill be camping there as a gesture to raise awareness about how important our parks are," said Chris.
He also wants to shine light on the issue of bicycle safety.
"In Florida I know they recently adopted a 3 foot law where when you pass a bicycle you have to legally give them 3 foot of clearance on their side but lm of the opinion its safer to be on a bicycle than it is to traverse the interstate but I know there are quite a few people who disagree with me on that one though," said Chris.
On his trip, Chris will travel with a small trailer pulling everything from food, to clothes right behind him.
"Imagine getting on a bicycle and riding from adel Georgia to New Orleans, Louisiana think about that distance. Now even those Chris is breaking this up into a 12 day tour and riding 60 to 65 miles per day there is a tremendous effort involved in doing this," said friend Jerry Connell.
After 12 days on September 19th at 3:00pm Chris will pedal his way back to Reed Bingham State Park where supporters and fans from all over will gather to welcome the pedaling pastor home.
So far, the pastor has raised $9,000 dollars but expects to raise another thousand before the weekend is over.
Find out more about the pedaling pastor at www.pedalingpastor.org
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