2006 event poses challenge to new leaders; staff of dedicated volunteers provide valuable input
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| The new management team of Michael Bailey, community relations manager, and Mavis May, logistics manager, bring strong backgrounds in event planning and marketing to the 2006 Lone Star AIDS Ride scheduled to begin Sept. 23. |
A new two-member team will coordinate the 2006 Lone Star Ride Fighting AIDS.
Mavis May was recently hired as logistic manager for the event, and Michael Bailey will serve as community relations manager. May will focus on planning the ride, and Bailey will serve as the chief fundraiser for the event.
May and Bailey said planning for the two-day ride that begins Sept. 23 will be a major challenge, but they are confident of success because of the volunteers who will be helping them. The volunteers are able to answer any questions that arise, they said.
“We have a group of volunteers who have been around since the very beginning of the ride,” Bailey said. “They have been in leadership roles so the ride is in very capable hands.”
It is the first year for the ride to be managed without the guidance of event founder Janie Bush who retired this year, saying it was time for a change in her life that would allow a less time-consuming pace. She managed the ride for five years.
May comes to the ride with a decade of experience in HIV/AIDS case management and education and event planning. She worked as an outreach coordinator for the AIDS Resource Center and the women’s program coordinator.
May also worked for a Caven Enterprises nightclub and coordinated employee projects to raise money for causes such as the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, breast cancer and the HIV/AIDS community.
Bailey was hired in March. He has a marketing and public relations background in private business and the nonprofit sector. He worked for Electronic Data Systems and was a member of the Dallas-Fort Worth Black Tie Dinner’s board of directors.
He has also worked as a humanitarian activist, assisting with conflict resolution between Israeli and Palestinian children.
Bailey is charged with the responsibility of raising $200,000 from sponsors, which allows the event to give back all of the riders’ pledges to the three beneficiaries. The ride benefits the AIDS Resource Center of Dallas, AIDS Services of Dallas and AIDS Outreach Center of Greater Tarrant County.
The ride has raised about $1.2 million for the beneficiaries since 2001. It is the only ride that returns all of the riders’ pledges to beneficiaries.
This year’s event will offer new options for participants, including a one-day ride of 80 miles, a two-day ride of 150 miles and a road warrior route of 175 miles.
The road warrior route adds a loop near the end of the first day that takes the mileage to 100 miles.
The ride will feature a country route from Dallas to Glen Rose with dinner and entertainment on Saturday evening. The ride will conclude on Sunday in Fort Worth with a closing ceremony.
For information see www.lonestarride.org.
E-mail webb@dallasvoice.com
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition, May 26, 2006.