Please excuse the crumminess of the layout on some of these pages. I really have better things to do than to make it all look pretty. Anyway, my embarrassment at hastily-put-together-websites-by-me-that-don't-look-very-good aside (I won't say anything more about it if you don't), I guess I should mention that some kind of pamphlet explaining who you are and what you're doing is, of course, vital.

Also important are that you be credible, sincere, well-informed, and committed to what you're doing in the literature you hand out. The more touching the literature, the better. Putting a face and easily relatable identity to your cause is paramount, and it's hard to do--we certainly had a hard time. Christine Ichim's request for contributions to leukemia research was much better than anything we came up with.

The following is an HTML-ified version of some of what we had in our little hand-out pamphlet that explained our project.

 

  Guatemala

For nearly thirty-six years, Guatemala suffered a violent internal armed confrontation that profoundly affected almost every sector of society.

Currently, Guatemala's social indicators, such as infant mortality and illiteracy, are among the worst in the hemisphere. More than half the population lives in poverty, and two-thirds of that number live in extreme poverty.

At US$150 a year, university tuition is beyond the means of most.

  

  Nicaragua

Nicaragua is slowly rebuilding in the wake of Hurricane Mitch. Thousands of people were killed, many more lost their homes, and infrastructural developments have been set back decades.

At an estimated US$436, Nicaragua's per capita Gross Domestic Product is the second-lowest in the hemisphere, and the combined rate of under- and un-employment is 52.2 percent.

Again, at US$40-120 per year, university tuition is unaffordable for the majority.

 

   Motivation

Opportunities for developing potential are distributed unequally in the world. In particular, people in poor areas of the global community have difficulty gaining access to education.

We realize that we have been favoured with the opportunity of attending a post-secondary institution and developing our minds and potential.

Before closing the chapter on our own undergraduate careers, we would like to contribute to supporting others in their struggle towards increased knowledge and awareness.

 

 

 Cycling For Opportunity 1999

 

 

Our Challenge

To raise $14,500 and awareness for two education funds in Nicaragua and Guatemala by cycling from Vancouver, BC to Waterloo, ON.

Our Vision

To create a national network of similar university initiatives that would continually offer the gift of education and opportunity from the Canadian student body to our underprivileged counterparts in the world community.

We also had a section on how to pledge money, how to contact us, etc. The actual pamphlet and our C4O letterhead, C4O thank you slips (given to people who supported the project with small donations--big donations got a handwritten letter) and C4O pledge sheets (for each cyclist to keep track of donations) are all available in the links section of this website.