Three ISU Pi Kappa Phi members will join other fraternity brothers to bicycle across the country this summer to raise money for people with disabilities.

Journey of Hope is an event sponsored by Push America, an organization originally founded by a Pi Kappa Phi fraternity member that has become the national philanthropy for Pi Kappa Phi chapters across the country.

Each year a 72-person team of Pi Kappa Phi members cycle across the United States.

“We will be cycling 4,000 miles — from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to the Capitol steps in Washington, D.C. — to raise funds and awareness on behalf of people with disabilities,” said Ben Klocke, junior in finance and the president of Iowa State’s Pi Kappa Phi chapter, 407 Welch Ave.

This is Klocke’s first year riding in Journey of Hope. He will be joined by two brothers, Josh Sheffler and Melvin Rosario.

Each member of the Journey of Hope team is committed to raising a minimum of $5,000, which goes to organizations that help people with disabilities, including Camp Courageous in Monticello. This year the event expects to raise more than $400,000.

“When we say we’re raising money for people with disabilities, that’s just something on paper,” said Sheffler, junior in management information systems. “It’s when you actually get out on the trip and interact with them, that it is put into perspective and you understand what you’re raising money for.”

Each participant must raise the money on their own, with no help from their chapters. These students fund raise throughout the year by writing letters to friends, family and alumni of their chapter. Businesses may also be contacted for donations. Corporate sponsors, however, do not necessarily provide monetary donations. They tend to donate supplies needed for the trip.

“Basically, we write letters to everyone we know,” Klocke said. “We went around to different sororities and made it a competition to see who could raise the most money on our behalf. The top three houses will have their letters put on our bikes.”

Klocke said he has contacted several people and has raised $4,200 since February.

This is Sheffler’s third year participating in Push America fund-raising events. His first year Sheffler cycled from Miami to Tallahassee, Fla. with “Gear up Florida.” Last year he cycled the 4,000 miles with Journey of Hope. This year, Sheffler is giving other members in his fraternity the opportunity to cycle.

Sheffler will be a member of the Anniversary Team, which consists of 13 people. This route goes every five years. They are the support team for the 72 cyclists. They drive support vehicles and take care of anything that does not involve cycling. Sheffler is also committed to raising $2,500 for Push America.

The Anniversary Team parks the support vehicles every five miles so the cyclists are never more than 2.5 miles from one. This team also plans the “friendship visits” in each town stopped at along the route.

Here, members of the teams interact with people with disabilities.

Rosario, sophomore in pre-business, will also participate for the first time this year.

“At first I just wanted to do something positive this summer,” Rosario said. “But now that I’ve done some of the prerequisites, like visiting Camp Courageous and getting to know the kids, I really bought into it. It made me feel like this is something awesome.”

Rosario has only been on the team for a month, so he is behind on raising the $5,000. He has raised $1,000 so far and plans to continue the fund raising until he has enough.

The Journey of Hope begins June 15 in San Francisco for Klocke and Rosario and will end Aug. 16 in Washington, D.C.

They have already started their training. Klocke and Rosario ride 20 to 30 miles a day to train right now, when the weather is nice. Klocke said they will gradually work their way up to 75 miles a day, which is the length of an average day on the trip.

“It was nice when the weather was nice,” Rosario said about training outside. “Otherwise, it’s hitting the Rec and the stationary bikes.”

Each of these men are excited to have the chance to do something like Journey of Hope. “I saw the good that people in the past were doing and I saw an opportunity of a lifetime,” Klocke said.