After watching the video you may feel inspired to bring your own talents to the PEPY stage.  If so, you're in luck!  Whether you interested in volunteering, traveling or donating, we've got plenty of options for you in this month's newsletter. 

 

Read our feature article to learn about our upcoming Volunteer Trips this August.  Give your hands-on time and energy to PEPY and Cambodia!  

 

Check out our featured sponsor, World Hotel Link, and plan your trip to Cambodia.  Book your accommodation through the PEPY website www.pepyride.org/the_pepy_ride and a portion of the profits from you booking will come back to PEPY!  Visit the PEPY site again soon to book hotels ALL around the world! 

 

And finally, be sure to check out the many upcoming PEPY events.  The PEPY Hurricane Relief Ride will hold its kick-off benefit this May 21st in Austin, Texas.  Even if you can't attend, there's still time to support hurricane rebuilding by donating online at:  www.firstgiving.com/ymcapepyride.  Other upcoming events include The Judy Run, The Tokyo Charity Scavenger Hunt, the ALT Soccer Tournaments and the Recontracting Party in Tokyo.  Best of luck to all participants!  Pedal, run, hunt, play and party safe!  Thank you for all your efforts.

 

Volunteers are working behind the scenes all over the world to raise support and awareness for PEPY.  Help us bring their work CENTER STAGE for a rousing encore after encore.  Get involved today!

Don't just act...take ACTION!

The PEPY Ride Team

 

 

It's Your Turn, Be Inspired

"I am filled with a sense of electricity and excitement about what I can do with my life that I haven't felt in years.  Thank you."    "My whole perspective on life (and the Universe and Everything) has been flip-turned, washed, wrung out, left to dry in the sun, worn...and patched up."  PEPY Volunteers There's no doubt about it, PEPY inspires.  Maybe you've experienced it...felt the PEPY electricity while talking with a previous volunteer, seen it in their eyes, or read about it in one of these newsletters and gotten goosebumps.  Whatever your current relationship with PEPY, it's time you took it to the next level.  It's YOUR turn to get involved and experience a PEPY Volunteer trip for yourself!  Join us this August!  Sign up NOW for one of PEPY's August Volunteer trips, really LIVE and LEARN as you give back to the people you meet, and walk home saying, "This is the best think I've ever done."  Here's how: When: Aug 6-13 and Aug 13-20  Where: Phnom Penh, Cambodia (both trips offer an post-Phnom Penh extension trip to Siem Reap/Angkor Wat) How: Fill out an online sign-up form or request more info. at http://www.pepyride.org/php/sign_up.html  Why: Funds raised from this trip will enable CCF Orphanage to stock The PEPY Ride Medical Center in their second orphanage building, CCF2 What:  During the week volunteers will spend 3.5 days visiting areas of Phnom Penh and surrounding villages, learning about Cambodian history and the current situation.  Volunteers will also spend another 3.5 days working with CCF to build rainwater collection units in poverty housing areas.  Many of CCF's students come from these areas.  Volunteers will work with the local community and families to build rainwater collection units which harvest enough rainwater during the wet season to provide clean drinking water through the dry season. Who:  YOU!  Join us!  This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!

Responsible Tourism with a PEPY Theme

Who knew that the idea to bike across Cambodia for fun would turn into such a huge project touching so many lives...not us?! But we are so glad that it has! When we went to Cambodia Greta and I were inspired by the people we met and the stories we heard.  It was this inspiration that led us to PEPY and the desire to give back. In my opinion, PEPY's greatest accomplishment has been SHARING this experience with hundreds of PEPY volunteers.  Through PEPY Volunteer Trips many of you have had the opportunity to visit Cambodia and experience what Greta and I first encountered.  You have, in turn, found in yourselves the same desire to give back.  Some of you are now sponsoring children at CCF orphanage or volunteering in Papua New Guinea and other countries around the world.  Others have already returned to Cambodia on a second PEPY trip or have signed up to lead one.  Maryann has created a ride to support hurricane relief in the U.S.  Volunteers are throwing fundraisers across Japan, giving community presentations, speaking to students and the list goes on and on.  Bringing together teams of like-minded individuals who are ready to give of their time and skills to make a united social impact is an amazing thing to be a part of, and I have been inspired by all five PEPY trips this year.  All of you who have joined us have amazed me with your energy, creativity and desire to make a difference...and never doubt it for a second...you HAVE made a difference! Due to the overwhelming response we have received from our first five PEPY trips, PEPY recently decided to apply for the Notre Dame University's McCloskey Social Venture Business Plan Competition offered through the Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.  After months of hard work on behalf of Steve Allen, Maryann Bylander, Dominic Giuliani, Daniela Kon, Peppi Stunkel and myself, the business plan for PEPY Tours, our idea for a new volunteer focused tour company, won the competition AND the best presentation award. Congratulations and THANKS to our PEPY Tours crew!  PEPY Tours will focus on spreading tourism and volunteer options with a PEPY theme, hands-on volunteer opportunities combined with the best sightseeing and tour opportunities. We will be sure to keep you posted as we develop this idea and expand the volunteer and travel options offered by PEPY.  Visit our pictures page at www.pepyride.org/gallery/main, view the amazing video made by Daniela Kon, and get a glimpse of what travelling with PEPY is all about. We promise inspiration. Join us. You wont be disappointed. - Daniela

 

Captivated by Cambodia:  The May Volunteer Trip

Natalie Dushney was a part of this months PEPY volunteer team in Cambodia.  She and 10 other volunteers spent a week living, learning and giving their way through Cambodia.  It's no wonder that Natalie can't stop thinking about her trip.  Here's what she had to share:        When thinking of my volunteer trip to Cambodia (which I have been doing almost every second since returning to Japan), images float in my mind, dancing together but ultimately apart.  I envision inescapable poverty and genuine smiles, fetid garbage and lustrous silk, unpaved roads and massive hotels, lilting Khmer music and the plaintive cries of street children.  I have been fascinated, angered, amazed, and saddened.  Cambodia is a country that captivates people and leaves them yearning for another taste, however bitter or sweet it may be.  Everything I experienced will be forever lodged in my heart.  However, there are several experiences that keep floating to the surface, causing me great happiness and sadness. The faces of the children.  One of the most incredulous aspects of this trip was how the children at CCF and Sangkheum Center would run up to us full of love and life with luminous eyes and grins plastered on their faces.  They hugged us, blew kisses at us, held our hands confidently in theirs.  These are kids who have witnessed death, engaged in prostitution and have been forced to pick through the literal scum of Steung Meanchey, Phnom Penh's garbage dump.  Conversely, the faces of the street children were an unnerving sight.  They would also run up to us, but with hauntingly empty gazes, their eyes pleading and their mouths silently voicing their subjugation.  While the CCF and SC children bounced with vitality, the street children sagged with responsibility and despair. The turbulent history of Cambodia.  Barely can I think about this without a chill invading my bones.  The horrors that pervaded Tuol Sleng and Chuong Ek, a former Khmer Rouge prison and killing field, seem almost gruesome enough to be fabricated.  The chipped corridors of Tuol Sleng silently whispered of the moaning and sobbing they housed.  The embedded teeth and clothing in Chuong Ek display the human lives that were violently extinguished.  I cannot help but ache and yearn to rewrite history, but amazingly, there is a faint sense of peace within Cambodia's people.  The beautifully haunting landscape.  While the country is graced with unpaved roads that ferociously kicked dust into my pores, I only needed to look to the horizon to glimpse the elegance of the palm trees, the abundance of the fruit trees and the vivid beckoning of their blooms.  Perhaps the most haunting aspect of Cambodia is its temples.  Peering up at the giant stone creations, I could not help but feel tiny and insignificant.  From the magnificent structure of Angkor Wat to the serene visages of Bayon to the perfect recreation of a woman at Banteay Srei, these temples exude a magical beauty that can only induce marvel.   Spirit of the Volunteers.  Initially, I was worried about my tripmates.  Being the last to land in Cambodia did nothing to quell my fears, as everyone already had a night or two to mingle and get to know one another.  Fortunately, I learned that each and every one of my tripmates was an amazing person who brought their own strengths to the trip.  D, our leader, was the epitome of wonderful - caring, concerned, active in restoring peace to a broken country.  Mama and Papa Bear were creative and ready to help at a moments notice.  Royal D evoked smiles with his crazy faces and impromptu dancing.  Gaia brought contemplation and artistic entertainment, while Young 'un levelled us with a complexity belying his age.  Shopaholic continually amazed us with her propensity to support the Cambodian economy.  Joss, ever the camp leader, pulled details together and induced giggles by resembling a sheik.  Sporty Spice and Watson, the international twins, were warm and welcoming from beginning to end.  I can only imagine what was thought of me, snorting, giggling, spilling food daily, and donning sparkles in the heat.  Now, we are bonded for life...

Running for PEPY

Brendon Cross is an ALT currently teaching English in Miyazaki-ken, Japan.  He will be joining one of the PEPY Volunteer trips to Phnom Penh this August and is currently raising funds and awareness in preparation for the trip.  Brendon, and so many  like him around the world, are powering PEPY forward, educating themselves, their friends and their families about what we can do to bring greater opportunities to Cambodia, and helping PEPY raise the funds to act.      Here's what Brendon had to share about his latest successful fundraising campaign:     As part of my fundraising efforts for this August's PEPY Volunteer Trip in Phnom Penh, I competed in a TRIATHLON.  The triathlon took place in Seagaia, Miyazaki City on May 7th, 2006 and included a 250m swim, 13.5km bike and 2.5km run.  Miraculously, out of around 60 competitors in the 'open' category, I came in 22nd with a time of 48mins and 52sec.  I ALSO managed to raise a staggering 47,000 yen ($420 US) for PEPY through sponsorship from friends, family and work colleagues. I can't tell you enough how stoked I am to have raised this money for such a worthwhile cause.  It really will help make a difference in the lives of some of the poorest children in Cambodia, now living at the Cambodian Children's Fund (CCF).  Now I am REALLY looking forward to working with CCF, meeting the kids and being in Phnom Penh this August.  Bring it on!!!!

 

Protect the Earth, Protect Yourself

You only have to open the newspaper to be confronted with evidence of the unsustainable lifestyle of humans: climate change, rising pollution, the exploding extinction rate, the loss of forests or spreading desertification. These are all real issues that will affect not only our generation, but humans and all other living beings on earth in the future.   For the majority of Cambodians, these problems are more than a black and white newspaper article; they are issues of life and death that the poor must deal with every day.   In an attempt to keep our readers, and ourselves, informed on these issues, we are introducing a series of articles appropriately titled, "Protect the Earth, Protect Yourself."  Join PEPY here every month as we learn more about WHY our work is necessary, and use that knowledge to grow as an organization.  *Access to Clean Water Access to clean water is one of the most pressing environmental issues worldwide, and will become more so in the coming years, as increased pollution and intensive agriculture and industry lead to the loss of our most precious resource.  In Cambodia, a country of roughly eleven million people, seven million live without access to safe drinking water.  Water-borne diseases such as hepatitis are a major cause of child mortality and poverty.  It is crazy to think that nine percent of the world's population consumes almost three quarters of the available fresh water, while half a billion people in countries like Cambodia live with the constant feeling of thirst, and the threat of disease, dwindling groundwater resources, and lakes that are drying up.  Both poverty (through desperation), and wealth (through exploitation of the poor) cause the natural wonders of the environment that we depend upon for survival to be eroded away. The poor are inevitably the losers.  PEPY supports environmental education in Cambodia, in partnership with Mlup Baitong (www.mlupbaitong.org), so that the next generation will learn to respect the earth, and use its resources wisely.   Statistics in this article are taken from Wild Aid (www.wildaid.org), Global Witness (www.globalwitness.org) and the incredible book, The Earth from the Air, by Yann Arthus-Bertrand (2005) London: Thames and Hudson.

 

Featured Sponsor: World Hotel Link

This month PEPY's special thanks goes out to World Hotel Link!   Now you can make hotel reservations on The PEPY Ride website! Book from the PEPY website and 1% of the profits from your booking comes back to PEPY.  We are specifically working with World Hotel Link because their operation supports sustainable tourism through education and partnerships with responsible hotels.  Support PEPY, support sustainable tourism, stay in great places...why would you book anywhere else?! Thank You World Hotel Link!

 

Upcoming PEPY Events

Upcoming PEPY Trips:   May 23-30:  PEPY Hurricane Relief Ride from Beaumont, TX to New Orleans Visit www.pepyride.org or email Maryann at: YMCAride@pepyride.org for more info. August 6-13:  CCF Volunteer Trip (Phnom Penh) and August 13-19:  CCF Volunteer Trip (Phnom Penh) The funds raised from these trips will stock The PEPY Ride Medical Center at CCF's new facility.  Volunteers will spend time with the students and construct rainwater collection units in the most deprived areas of Phnom Penh.  Both trips offer extention trips to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat.  Email Julie at: volunteer@pepyride.org for more info.   Late December 2006 (dates to be decided):  The PEPY Ride School Volunteer Trip Email volunteer@pepyride.org for more info.    December 27-January 18:  The 2007 PEPY Ride We are still accepting late applications to join the 2nd Annual PEPY Ride in Cambodia.  Follow in the tire treads of the 2006 team and expand the future possibilities of riding with PEPY.  This 3 week ride will visit local schools and amazing NGOs across Cambodia.  To fill out a web application form, choose "Request more info about future PEPY trips" on the PEPY homepage and select "Cambodia 2007" as your trip choice.  Email Judy and Audrey at: cambodia2007@pepyride.org for more info.   Japan Events:   May 27:  The JUDY Run (Izunokuni City) The Judy Run aims to raise 700,000 Yen to support PEPY's environmental education initiatives in Cambodia.  With more than 100 people set to participate, including 70 ALTs from 5 different Kens, it's no wonder that Shizuoka's local TV station plans to attend!  Keep an eye out for a 15 minute documentary feature on PEPY-lovin runners!  If anyone is interested in running in their home countries, get in touch with Judy and make it an international event!  A number of onsen cottages have been reserved for the low low price of 2,500 Yen per person (if 6 in a cottage) per night INCLUDING a 1/2 price onsen ticket for both days/evenings of the overnight stay...if interested, email IMMEDIATELY!  Join The JUDY Run for feel-good running and onsen chillin!  Email Judy at:  judyrun@pepyride.org for more info and a sign up form!   June 3:  The semi-annual Tokyo Charity Scavenger Hunt (Tokyo) Twice a year teams of "hunters" scavenge Tokyo for clues as they compete for prizes and the glory of winning the Tokyo Charity Scavenger Hunt!  The upcoming 5th hunt, organized by Huntresses Michelle Lydin, Jaime Bauer, and Megan Prescott, is set to be the best hunt yet!  Check out the website at:  www.tokyoscavengerhunt.com or email the huntresses at: info@tokyoscavengerhunt.com for more info.  June 3-4:  Next Western ALT Soccer Tournament (Awaji Island, Hyogo) and June 17-18:  Next Eastern ALT Soccer Tournament (Sugadaira, Nagano) Twice a year, Jon, Andre, Chris, and Phil organize the ALT Soccer Tournaments in both Eastern and Western Japan with an All-Japan Championship held in Saitama`s World Cup Stadium once a year. These events have become a pillar of the English teaching community in Japan with the chance to join in competitive sport and enjoy a huge party with all the other teams!  These events are not to be missed.  And don`t miss their annual Nagano Ski Trips either!  A portion of the sign up fee for these events supports The PEPY Ride School in Cambodia which is yet another reason to join!  Visit www.altsoccertournament.com for more info. June 6:  Recontracting Conference Party at the Pink Cow (Tokyo) The Pink Cow in Shibuya, 2,500 Yen w/ 1 free drink.  Attending the JET recontracting conference this June?  Party for Peace at the Pink Cow and support BEE, PEPY and Mu-Jeres.  Email Emilie at: parties4peace@gmail.com or visit www.thepinkcow.com/map for more info.   U.S. Events: May 21 (7-11 pm):  The PEPY Hurricane Relief Ride Kick Off Benefit (Austin) Performances by:  Zydeco Blanco, Libby Kirkpatrick, Michael Shay Ruta Maya  3601 South Congress Avenue, Austin  $15 at the door Come support cyclists who will spend the next 8 days biking through Louisiana!  Enjoy a night of music, dancing, drinking and education all for a great cause: raising awareness and support for hurricane rebuilding!  If you can't attend, but would like to make a contribution to the YMCA and their hurricane rebuilding efforts, please visit our online donation site at: www.firstgiving.com/ymcapepyride.  For check or cash donations, please email maryann@pepyride.org   Feel free to start your own PEPY events!  We'd LOVE your support!

The PEPY Ride Sponsors