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Homeless shelter director begins 3,100-mile Nebraska bicycle ride/restaurant tour
NORFOLK, Neb. -- Ron Snell, Executive Director of The Connection Homeless Shelter in North Platte, begins his 3,100-mile bicycle ride to each county in Nebraska on Saturday, August 1. The goal of the ride is to highlight unique Nebraska restaurants while completing a fundraising effort to build a new homeless shelter in North Platte.
Staff at Nebraska Life Magazine and The Connection Homeless Shelter have collaborated with one restaurant in each of Nebraska's 93 counties in the effort. The restaurant will provide a meal for Snell and collect funds for the new homeless shelter in exchange for special publicity including local media coverage of the bicycle ride. Additionally, Snell will take photos and write about his journey as he goes for a future story in Nebraska Life Magazine.
Snell has been training on his bicycle for several months, but still has qualms. "My legs are eight years older than the state of Alaska," he laughs. "With a goal of riding 100 miles per day, six days a week, I'm thinking this was a pretty audacious idea. But now I've told everyone that I'm going to do it, there's no turning back."
Snell says that while most people do not think of homelessness as a rural issue, the shelter in North Platte has served about 250-300 clients each year for the past 15 years. It is currently housed in an old, converted restaurant. "The shelter has certainly met a need," says Snell, who became the director in 2000, "but it's in an old, old building in a bad location. For several years now the Board has known that we could do a lot more to help families and singles get back on their feet if we had a facility that was actually designed to be a shelter."
The fundraising effort for the new homeless shelter began in 2004 when land was purchased after a local task force confirmed that no existing buildings were either suitable or economically viable. In 2005 Snell and his wife Tammy walked 1,000 miles in a huge loop around the state, ultimately bringing in nearly $150,000.00. In 2007, he turned a vacation into a fundraiser by poling a homemade flatboat from Wyoming to Iowa in 14 days.
To date, over $1 million has been raised, and just under $200,000 more is needed to complete the project.
Snell is scheduled to be at (restaurant) in (city) on (date) at (time). Well-wishers are encouraged to drop in and cheer him on, as well as to chip in with a donation. Snell is blogging about his venture and posting pictures at www.plattepost.com. The feature story on Snell's journey is scheduled to appear in Nebraska Life Magazine next summer.
Snell's schedule of stops in Southwest Nebraska, listed Date, Time, Meal, County, Restaurant, Address, City, includes:
Saturday, Aug. 1, 2:30 PM, Lunch, Hayes, Bulls Bar & Grill, 504 Tate Street, Hayes Center
Saturday, Aug. 1, 7:30 PM, Supper, Frontier, Curtis Cattle Co, 223 Center, Curtis
Saturday, Aug. 8, 9:30 AM, Breakfast, Furnas, Cunninghams Feed, 603 Nebraska, Arapahoe
Saturday, Aug. 8, 12:00 PM, Lunch, Red Willow, Sehnerts Bakery & Bieroc Café, 312 N. Avenue, McCook
Saturday, Aug. 8, 3:30 PM, Supper, Hitchcock, NE Sports Café, 214 Main Street, Trenton
Saturday, Aug. 8, 7 PM, Supper, Dundy, Zeke's Bar & Grill , 105 6th Ave East, Benkelman
Monday, Aug. 10, 9 AM, Brunch, Chase, 12th St Café, 140 E 12th St, Imperial