Beaches, Bars, Socials, Events and More!
Richard Cordova and Richards Riders Host Benefit at Wild Pug Wednesday April 21st
3 HOUR OPEN BAR
and BENEFIT!
Such a deal!
This Wednesday April 21st from 6:30 to 9:30 at Wild Pug (4810 N Broadway)
Richards Riders / Ride for AIDS Team will be having a fundraising party.
This is Richard’s third year in the Ride for AIDS and this year he plans to set new records! He is returning with a 21 person team this year and a goal of $30,000, which would be the highest amount ever raised by a team.
“Raising $30,000 is a lofty goal, but with so many people on the team I’m hoping we can rally enough support for such a great cause and make our goal,” said Cordova. He has also run five marathons and three half-marathons. Richard is a health educator at the Center on Halsted and he also is a spinning instructor at the Lakeview Athletic Club.
“The 2009 Ride was great because two of my closest friends, Zak and Andrea, did the ride with me, which really made it a lot of fun,” Cordova said. “I decided to start my own team this year because I knew I was going to do the Ride again and it just seemed like the logical thing to do.” The Ride for AIDS is July 10-11, but fundraising is underway now and the Wild Pug event will be the first in a series.
The Ride For AIDS is a 190-mile bicycle trek from Northwestern University’s Evanston campus to Lake Geneva and back. “The ride is tough. It’s fun, but tough,” Cordova said. “The winds can be brutal while the hills and long flat stretches in Wisconsin are mentally and physically draining. The camaraderie among the riders and the crew helps of course.”
“As someone living with HIV for over eight years now, I’ve come to look at physical challenges as my way of sticking it to the man, as they say, and ‘the man’ being HIV. It’s important that I prove to myself that even though I live with this virus every day that I must continue to stay positive and that having HIV doesn’t stop me from living my best life. Honestly, having this virus in some ways has helped me live an even better one because I’ve come to realize how destructive behaviors in my life were leading me to an early grave.”
Cordova added, “My team would love it if the kind and benevolent LGBTQ community could find it in their hearts and their wallets by helping us support Test Positive Aware Network ( TPAN ) through a donation. No matter how big or small; every bit counts. Whether it be information dissemination, outreach, testing and prevention, and positive living support groups and more, TPAN is on the front lines every day helping those, myself included, who are living their best life possible with HIV/AIDS. We ride to do our part and when you make a decision to support our ride you are doing yours. Thank You!”
