Since 2008, I’ve participated in BRAKING AIDS® Ride, an annual 3-day, 300-mile journey from Boston to NYC by bicycle. Over that time, I’ve ridden thousands of miles on my trusty blue bicycle, The Blue Streak, to elevate awareness about HIV/AIDS. (Over 13,000 miles and counting—no joke!)

me, halfway through last year’s BRAKING AIDS Ride

We’re at a pivotal moment in the fight to end AIDS. Individual donations from hundreds of kind souls every year have been essential in helping me raise $70,000 and counting to support Housing Works’ many life-saving services for those living with HIV as well as its efforts toward ending the AIDS epidemic once and for all. Last year, I raised more than $14K. This year, I’m counting on the support of everyone I know to raise $20K for 2020—$20,000 to end AIDS as an epidemic in New York by 2020. (And yes, you read that correctly. I’m attempting to raise $20,000 in the next 7 weeks before the ride.)

I started myself off with a $500 donation—using the handy monthly donations option—and am aiming to kick in another $200–300 of my own by the ride. As of this writing I am at nearly $6,200, roughly 31% of my $20K goal.

If you already know the deal and want to just DONATE NOW, click here or scroll down to the “How You Can Help” section for details.

with Advocacy Dept. colleagues at this year’s NYC LGBT Pride march

The Hard Work is Working

It bears repeating: We can end AIDS as an epidemic, even without a cure or a vaccine. Along with many allies at the city, state, and national levels, Housing Works remains at the forefront of that movement. Once the epicenter of AIDS, New York is now at the forefront of progress. New data just released by the NY State AIDS Institute underscores that we are on track to end the epidemic: State HIV diagnoses are at a historic low, and the number of HIV+ New Yorkers who have reached “undetectable” status, the optimal health outcome for those with HIV, is at its highest ever.

What was once considered impossible, even crazy, or just overly optimistic sloganeering, is now a discernible future within reach. The audacity that it has taken to achieve the above milestones is taking hold and inspiring others to follow suit: San Francisco now has its own plan to end AIDS, and similar plans are in the works in other states and jurisdictions.

Why I’m Doing More

Someone said to me recently, “when you’re close to reaching a finish line, you don’t slow down or take your foot off the proverbial gas. You floor it.”

In the spirit of flooring it and daring to push harder, I am making my own move toward audacity by raising my fundraising bar this year—A LOT. In support of NY’s 2020 goal, in the hopes of what it may inspire others to reach for, and in support of all the Housing Works initiatives that will help us get there, I’m aiming to raise $20,000 for BRAKING AIDS® Ride 2016. In 2015, I raised over $14,000, so this year’s $20K goal is an ambitious stretch. But with your help and the help of other donors, it is more than possible.

The future of ending AIDS is up to us. We know how to do it with the existing prevention and treatment tools; we just need to invest in and expand upon the strategies that make those tools accessible to everyone who needs them.

Every day is a great day to end AIDS.

How You Can Help

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TODAY & DIG DEEP. Donations of all sizes are welcome, but a $150 contribution or more will go a long way toward getting me to my $20,000 target. A $150 donation to Housing Works feeds 75 homeless youths during evening drop-in hours at Housing Works’ East New York Health Center. (More details on what different donation amounts will support can be found here.)

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION NOW.

Some ways to make giving easier, to make your donation go further & to help me reach or exceed my $20K goal sooner:

• PLEASE CHECK WITH YOUR HR DEPT. & SEE IF YOUR COMPANY WILL MATCH YOUR DONATION! Then check the “YES” bullet in the Company Matching section of the online donation form. (It’s the click-box under the donation amounts that’s labeled “This gift is matching eligible.”) You may be able to double or even triple your contribution! In 2015, over $3K of the $14K+ I raised came from company matches, so I cannot underscore enough how much this helps.

• Recurring Gift: On the donation page, select the bright pink “Repeat Monthly” option at the bottom of the list of donation amounts to set up a recurring donation of any size over your desired period of time. I prefer to donate this way because I can give more with a smaller hit to my wallet each month.

• Opt to cover the online donation processing costs. Right under the bright pink bar with the “Repeat Monthly” option, there’s another click-box that gives you the option to absorb the online processing fee that otherwise comes out of your donation. It’s a 7% fee, which is pretty small amount per individual donation, but if every one of my donors chose to cover this fee, it would mean thousands more overall in unrestricted donations to Housing Works.

• Please forward this information to EVERYONE. Spread the word to your family, friends & colleagues! Send the link to this blogpost or share my donation link with your own networks on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & other social media.

Thank you in advance for your generosity, kindness, encouragement, and support! I can’t do this without you.

Mika, BRAKING AIDS Rider #32

Please join me & Housing Works in the fight against AIDS/HIV by donating to Braking AIDS Ride 2016 (Boston to Manhattan, Sept. 23-25)—Mika De Roo, Rider # 32. Donation site: http://tinyurl.com/Mika20KforAIDSFreeNY2020