biking for a cause

it seems a significant number of athletic events are hooked into causes.
run for this, walk for that, bike for this other thing . . .

back when I was a kid I remember walk-a-thons. going door to door throughout the neighborhood with my sign-up sheet, asking people to pledge a certain dollar amount for each mile that I would walk. that amount was usually 5 or 10 cents per mile, so that I might collect 50 cents from each person.
this is my memory, anyway, which could be heavily influenced by books, movies, and the media, as I am stretching back many, many years . . .

my children's grade school used to do a walk-a-thon, but that ended about 7 or 8 years ago. they used to walk the entire student population --- about 300 kids --- around sugarhouse park a time or two, and call it good. they didn't ask for a pledge per mile: it was an outright donation regardless of how many steps the child took.

we seem to have completely moved away from the dollars-per-mile concept: we just outright ask for money these days. I am running a marathon/walking a 10k/riding 100 miles/swimming until I drop and asking you to contribute to this worthy cause in conjunction with my efforts.

I don't really get it.

what does my riding 100 miles have to do with one contributing to the associated cause?
it just seems to me that a piece is missing.
we jumped straight from a unit of money per each segment accomplished, to just send money in because I'm doing something.

each of us has a uniquely wired brain, preprogrammed to function in its own, inimitable way. mine has its quirks, I'll readily admit, and being too literal and too linear are part of my brain's peculiarities.
the result is I have a belief that part of the bridge from activity to donation has been excised, leaving this gap of meaning. I want my cycling to somehow have more significance and connection to the donations solicited and given.

perhaps I'm up in the night. but somehow something just seems to be missing.

I can't resolve this at the moment, however, as I think it's something that will just have to marinate in my (quirky) brain until it either dispels, or grows into some creative thought that will set the fundraising world on its proverbial ear. there are times when those little marinating thoughts grow into amazing, coruscating ideas that light the way to great things.

and just in case you don't have an issue with fundraising events that use the I'm-doing-something-please-donate-to-this-cause framework, you are most welcome to visit my fundraising page for the MS Best Dam Bike Ride and make any little old donation you'd like:

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/UTUBikeEvents?px=3657790&pg=personal&fr_id=9532

because, regardless of how its done or who thinks what about the process, donating to a worthy cause is still an excellent way to spread gratitude and impact lives for the better.