The senate of the Government of the Student Body unanimously voted to fund Road Show USA — the ISU Unicycling and Juggling Club’s 5,000-mile bicycling trek across the nation.

The club will raise money for Shriner’s Children’s Hospitals through pledges, business sponsorships, T-shirt sales and donations, said Jesse Shumaker, president of the club and senior in management information systems.

Seven ISU students and two others will bicycle from Astoria, Ore., to Boston. During the journey, the club will be performing in towns along the way.

The route of travel will also intersect the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) path, he said.

The Unicycling and Juggling Club requested $1,377.71 to pay for the transportation from Ames to Astoria.

Each passenger will be responsible for his or her own way home, Shumaker said.

The group also has a Web site dedicated to the event, http://roadshow.chegg.com. The site will be updated daily once the trek begins, he said.

“The group has put forth time and effort [for the event] and it will be good publicity,” said William Rock, off-campus senator and junior in agricultural studies.

Shumaker said he hopes the group will raise $50,000 or more through the event which will be donated to the children’s hospitals.

“The trip is a once-in-a lifetime opportunity,” he said.

In other business, $7,238.40 was transferred from Team PrISU’s 2002-2003 fiscal budget to the 2003-2004 budget. The transferred money was to fund a competitive trip which will not take place until the 2003 fiscal year, which starts June 1.

The transfer was made possible by a resolution to the original bill. Team PrISUm will not receive funding for solar cells or Li-Ion batteries — items for which funding was requested.

Eric Christensen, a PrISUm spokesman, said the funding for the items will most likely come from corporate sponsorship.