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Welcome to The PEPY Ride's third E-Newsletter!
It's November.... exactly 1 year since we named PEPY and started real work on this project. The PEPY Ride School is nearly complete and the first PEPY Ride and volunteer trip are just around the corner... time flies when you're building a school, I guess!
THANK YOU to all of you..... we have surpassed our $35,000 fundraising goal and even just crossed the $40,000 mark! Some of our new plans include the formation of a school PTA, monthly school maintenance budget, and the construction of an apartment on-campus to house our full time English/computer teacher and to serve as a guesthouse for other visiting volunteer teachers. Our expanded budget has also allowed us to purchase 4 computers, a printer, and other supplies for the school.
In this newsletter you can learn about how your donations will help bring Harry Potter and JK Rowling's magic to the children of Cambodia, how to help PEPY move up from 3rd place in a fundraising contest, and how you can help support PEPY in a "green" way this holiday season.
Also, meet our newest rider, Peppi (NOT a joke...!) and our PEPY videographer, Cambodia veteran cyclist, Kristian.
The best part about this first year of PEPY was watching our small idea grow into a much larger reality. The PEPY dream has been realized because of YOUR support. Thank you THANK YOU for showing us that our family and friends, and even strangers with a common dream, can make significant improvements and touch many hearts. You have touched ours with your support.
Many thanks, on PEPY's first birthday!
Protecting with Pedals,
The PEPY Ride Team
 
| Harry Potter goes to Cambodia! |
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American Assistance for Cambodia's founder, Bernie Krisher, was selected as one of Asia's Heroes by Time Magazine.
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All of you Harry Potter fans will be happy to know that we are bringing J.K. Rowling's magic with us on The PEPY Ride. Due to the efforts of American Assistance for Cambodia founder, Bernie Krisher, Ms. Rowling has allowed a cut-rate Khmer language version of her first Harry Potter book to be distributed to the children of Cambodia.
There are only a limited number of copies being printed, and The PEPY Ride has ordered 600! At 50 cents per copy, the books are still too costly for most Cambodians to afford, so PEPY will deliver them to all 564 students at The PEPY Ride School. We will also deliver a copy to each school we visit during our ride. Now the children of Cambodia can be moved by Harry and his wizardry just like the rest of the world's children.
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| Featured Sponsor: systemsGo |
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Special thanks this month goes out to our newest sponsor,
systemsGo is a Tokyo based IT service provider and staffing agency for bilingual IT professionals. David Devlin, systemsGo President, learned about PEPY at a talk for Tokyo's Half Fast Cyclists. As an avid cyclist, he was keen to support PEPY. He came up with a clever idea to support our cause AND protect the earth.
In Japan it is customary to send New Years postcards to friends and clients thanking them for their support and welcoming them into the new year. David and systemsGo have decided to eliminate the excess paper usage this year and send E-cards instead. They're also saving all the money normally spent on printing and postage, and donating it to PEPY! Those funds will buy tree seedlings that will be planted by our PEPY volunteers and the students at The PEPY Ride School. Thank you systemsGo for saving trees and helping us plant new ones!
Visit www.systemsgo.co.jp to learn more about this incredible company.
If you and your company would like to do the same, please consider sending E-cards this holiday season in the name of PEPY. The PEPY Ride School will put those funds to good use well into the new year! |
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Ni hao from Chengdu, China!
Today is the 60th day of my Asia-by-Bike trip, visiting areas from the base of Mt. Fuji to the reclining Buddha in Bangkok, and I am getting increasingly excited about The PEPY Ride. I cannot wait to get out to Cambodia to meet the children at the school and the rest of the team, before setting off on our 5-week ride around the country.
 My reason for embarking on this bike ride, aside from the obvious hunger for travel and adventure, was to get closer to the environments I would be travelling through and hopefully learn more about the people and the cultures in this part of the world. Riding a bike is a great way to travel, not only because of the environmental and health benefits but also because it really puts you in the midset of it, as you are travelling like so many of the locals do here in Asia. So far I have ridden through Japan and South Korea and and have covered approximately 1500km [no punctures! knock knock]. I have seen some amazing places and have met some of the friendliest people ever, as my experiences have ranged from climbing Mt. Fuji to camping on Miyajima Island with hundreds of wild deer. I have been invited to stay in people's homes and have encountered more kindness and hospitality than I could have imagined possible. The scenery has varied from riding through the beautiful, autumn coloured mountains by national parks in Korea and the chaotic traffic of some of the biggest [and unfortunately most polluted] cities in the world here in China.
My involvement with the PEPY Ride began when I found an advert looking for riders to take part in the PEPY Ride, during one of my numerous searches on the net for volunteer opportunities.  Christmas came early when the girls replied, welcoming me to join them on the 5-week ride around Cambodia. One of the best parts for me about the PEPY Ride is knowing that this is a long term investment in the future of Cambodia. Education is the key. With knowledge the people of this country, which has suffered from one of the worst genocides the world has ever seen, will be able to help themselves. This is so much more practical than only helping with their immediate needs. I feel privileged to be a part of this incredible team and I am aware that The PEPY Ride School is about to become a very important and ongoing part of my life. The fact that my friends and family have supported me and this cause with their generous donations gives me all the more inspiration [if its possible] to give this project all I've got. You too can be a part of it if you want, so please do not hesitate to contact us [teamleader@pepyride.org] with any ideas or suggestions on how you personally or your company might be able to contribute!
Kind regards,
: ) peppi
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This Halloween, people across the globe were scavenging for PEPY. Photographer and Videographer Kristian Whillans threw an event in Calgary, Canada while Michelle Lydin, Jamie Bauer, and Megan Prescott threw the fourth semi-annual Tokyo Charity Scavenger Hunt in Japan. Here is what the organizers have to say about these spooky PEPY events.
  
Halloween Scavenger Hunt and BOOling Tournament
A harrowing hunt had scavengers snapping pictures and bargaining for souls as 35 possessed individuals ran around with their heads cut off in downtown Calgary this past Halloween. Good times were had by all as teams with themes solved riddles and rhymes in an effort to get the most points to win the highly coveted prize of ìrespect from your peersî. Teams shamed themselves and famed themselves and are forever immortalized at www.shutterfly.com where anyone who's interested can check out the highlights and lowlights by entering ìkristianwhillans@hotmail.comî as the user name, and ìboolingî as the password.
While teams were dressed to kill, the BOOling tourney quickly fell on the heels of the haunted hunt as teams once again bowled heads in stiff competition of winning some nasty prizes and pride. Over 40 people made it to the tourney, which helped make this Halloween Howler a huge success raising over $700 (CND) to be put towards the PEPY Ride School. Itís always a pleasure to see people having a good time, and it's always better when they are contributing to something that will change the lives of generations to come. A huge haunted hug and thank you to all who participated!
More good time guaranteed at the Winter Wind-up on December 10th at Classic Jack's! To find out more about this Calgary event contact Kristian at kristian@pepyride.org. See you there!
  
And across the ocean in Tokyo...
The Fourth Tokyo Charity Scavenger Hunt was another successful event! It was held on October 29th with hunters visiting a variety of Tokyo areas. There were a total of 78 participants who were in full Halloween spirit. Dressed in creative costumes, the 15 hunt teams raced around Tokyo trying to solve the Halloween Murder Mystery. Their mission was to hunt for random clues throughout Tokyo in search of the Halloween murderer. With many successful teams, everyone had a 'spook'tacular time. A total of 270,000 yen was donated to The PEPY Ride School. Thank you to all who joined and sponsored this event!
To view pictures from this event, and other PEPY events, go to: http://www.pepyride.org/gallery/albums.php
The date of the spring hunt will be announced soon. To find out more or to sign up, contact the huntresses at tokyoscavengerhunt@gmail.com. We hope to see you there!
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| Enter the PEPY mural contest! |
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Due to popular demand, Julia is extending the deadline for the PEPY mural contest to December 10th. The contest is open to all junior high and senior high aged students from around the world who want to help spread the PEPY message.
For teachers, combining an art project and environmental awareness is a fun and creative class project. We are looking for something that reflects the PEPY message "Protect the Earth. Protect Yourself," and is easy to blow up as a full scale mural on a wall at The PEPY Ride School.
Email julia@pepyride.org if you want an entry form or more information.
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| Help bring PEPY up to 2nd! |
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Hand-Done T-Shirts in Ely, Minnesota is a family run business specializing in embroidery and screen printing. In addition to donating printing for the PEPY clothing donated by Wintergreen Designs, Hand-Done has also provided us with our PEPY T-shirts at great prices! Visit them the next time you are wandering through Minnesota, or order from anywhere at 1-218-365-5599.
 
Meet Matthias Thim. He is proudly wearing our blue PEPY t-shirt and we are very proud to have him in it! Matthias was one of our first donors who found out about us through Tengu Foods. He donated, encouraged ALL his family to do so, helped secure donated school supplies for the school, and has now purchased PEPY T-shirts for his whole family for the holidays! He is one of our biggest supporters, and none of us here at PEPY have even met him.... although we can't wait to! Many thanks to Matthias for his support.
If you would like to order PEPY T-shirts for YOUR friends and family this holiday season, get your orders in now! E-mail teamleader@pepyride.org to place an order or to find out more.
T-shirts come in 2 red versions, blue, and yellow. Sizes S, M, L, XL. Detailed pictures of the front/back of each shirt should be on the webpage soon... or email the above address to have the pictures sent to you. Thanks! Hope to see you wearing one!
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Special Thanks to all our PEPY Ride Sponsors |
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 Do you live in Japan? Do you enjoy healthy, natural, or organic foods? If so, hopefully you have found Tengu Natural Foods where you can purchase a generous array of organic and vegetarian foods and environmentally friendly household goods. DON'T FORGET TO MENTION THE PEPY RIDE WHEN ORDERING FROM TENGU! Tengu will add 50% of your contribution to The PEPY Ride: simply set your contribution amount when you place your order. Visit http://www.alishan-organic-center.com to order, and be sure to mention PEPY!
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