Ride for Pele

[vanpaun]

Dear Unicyclist Forums,
I have a proposal for you guys and gals,
Recently one of our forum members has suffered a terrible and tragic loss. As you may know, I am talking about Pele Schramm's father who fell to his demise while hiking.

Now obviously this will have a tremendous effect on Pele's entire family; both emotionally and economically. That is why, in order to help Pele in his greatest time of need (also assuming he will want to go to college) that we, come together as a forum and help. If we could set up a Donate thread for Pele*, I'm sure that Pele, and his family would be grateful and impressed by the graciousness and spirit of the unicyclist.com community. Come on everybody, lets Unite as a forum and help Pele out.

Sincerely,
Jeremy Rubin
*Anyone know how to make a Paypal donate thing?

P.S.I would like to end this by saying: I know I'm not the most respected, best behaved, most knowledgeable person on the forums, but lets look past that, and unto the fact that Pele needs us, as a forum, as a community, as a support in his time of need.

[uni57]

Jeremy,

This is a wonderful thought. Very kind. However...

We cannot assume that he needs that kind of support. I'm sorry but I don't think this is such a good idea.

More than anything else (and something that insurance policies and savings accounts can't address), he needs the love and support of his family and his friends including all of us here. But you are right -- we should do something for him.

I suggest instead that we go with what it says in your thread title and organize a worldwide "Ride for Pele" day. Or maybe it should be called "Ride for Pele's Dad" day? People all over the world can get together and do a unicycle ride dedicated to Pele and his dad. Or how about "A Thousand Miles for Pele" weekend? If 100 people around the world each rode 10 miles or more, they could all post a dedication and report about their ride and the mileage. Just some thoughts.

I know firsthand how difficult it is to lose a family member suddenly. The first several days are filled with visits from family members, funeral arrangements, calling lists of people to tell them the terrible news, not to mention the task of just trying to get by. So, I think anything we do should wait a few weeks or more.

Perhaps their are other ideas besides a ride. And maybe I'm just plain wrong about thinking we should stay out of his financial affairs. We can discuss what to do here in this thread. Thank you for getting this started. A worldwide outpouring of love and support and friendship would be a wonderful thing. I know that's something we can give him.

[unicycledood]

Not to be a buzz kill. But we can't dedicate a day for everyone that passes....

But yeah, you know you have my support, Pele.

[Bondo]

Nothing wrong with a small hat-pass to, at least, buy some flowers and a card from the unicyclist community. Anybody have an address?

[Grinn]

Originally Posted by uni57

Jeremy,

This is a wonderful thought. Very kind. However...

We cannot assume that he needs that kind of support. I'm sorry but I don't think this is such a good idea.

More than anything else (and something that insurance policies and savings accounts can't address), he needs the love and support of his family and his friends including all of us here. But you are right -- we should do something for him.

But what if he wasn't properly insured? Fact: 80% of Canadians who are sold life insurance are sold the 'wrong kind' of insurance. Also, the majority are under-insured.

Sure it might be bad to just assume that they might need that kind of support, but with his father (and I'm assuming that he would be one of the money earners of the family) no longer with them, then how is that income going to be replaced? On top of the grieving they're now left with trying to figure out how they're going to be paying for their bills and, as mentioned above, education costs. A few donations from a large community such as this would go a long way in supporting their family through this tragedy.

[Mikefule]

I admire and share the sentiment that inspired this thread. I'm not sure that it is necessarily a good idea, however. As others have said, it is questionable to get involved in someone else's financial affairs, especially if you know very little about the people concerned. At worst, you could inadvertently cause offence.

However, I'm sure Pele will be grateful for all the support he has received in this forum. I have been impressed by the kindness, good sense and general support given by people of all ages and backgrounds. This community is a great thing and we should value it.

Maybe those of you who know Pele and his family are better placed to comment on what would be appropriate or welcome.

But well done to Vanpaun for opening the discussion in such a well considered way.

[vanpaun]

Okay thank you everybody for your wonderful ideas/comments. I do agree, money felt a little bit on the edge. Gilby's father has a Unicycle scholarship I'm sure Pele could apply for. Maybe we could raise enough to send his family a gift basket. Nothing much, but enough to show we truly care about the well being of our members.

[MuniAddict]

I think Jeremy's idea is very thoughtful, caring and sincere. I'm willing to do whatever I can to help, but I'm just so happy to see such an outpouring of support for one of our own!