By Greg Toumassian

Azusa Pacific University student Jordan Williams will be the first to tell you his team wasn’t ready for the challenge they faced last summer.

“Before we had left, none of us had biked more than 40 miles,” said Williams. “We were severely undertrained.”

Forty miles might sound like quite a trek to the inexperienced cyclist, but it was nothing compared to the journey Williams and his team of Azusa Pacific University colleagues were about to face.

Over the span of two months, the Ride for Water team would travel more than 3,000 miles across 12 states toward their destination: the New York City-based headquarters for Charity Water.

Chase Pritchett, Andrew Earle, Brian Terada, Dan Eckman and Alex Piering joined Williams to make up the team of six friends, and in the process of their ride raised more than $37,000 for the nonprofit organization dedicated to providing clean drinking water to those without it.

But before they could begin their journey, they had to get the Ride for Water campaign on its feet.

With little to no experience running a fundraising campaign, Williams and his team took to various social media outlets, picked up local business and school sponsors, and made T-shirts to get the word out.

The team also set up an interactive website that allowed supporters to view their journey in real time, with live updates, GPS tracking and blog recaps of the journey as they progressed.

Even with things falling in place on the social media front, it was a tense few weeks leading up to the start of the big ride. The team wasn’t quite sure if they would have a support driver, a support van or even their bikes – but that wouldn’t stop them.

“Whatever happened up until our leave day, which was May 10, was irrelevant,” said Williams. “When May 10 came, I was going to get on a bike – and everyone else – regardless of whether we were going to use beach cruisers from Walmart or the bikes we ended up getting.”

The team would acquire everything they needed just weeks before heading toward Washington, where they would take off for their journey across the country.

In the two months of riding toward New York, the team would travel anywhere between 100 to 200 miles per day. If they traveled any less, it was probably due to extreme winds or rain – and the occasional equipment breakdown.

Williams admits it was no easy feat, and if it weren’t for the kindness of the many people they met along the way, it probably wouldn’t have been possible.

“What stood out to me was just the generosity of people of the church and strangers who had no idea who we were, just saw our website or saw us in person and willingly opened their doors to us,” said Williams.

But the real payoff of their cross-country journey was the 1,877 people in Ethiopia they helped provide pure drinking water to through their fundraising campaign.

“I honestly don’t know how we got through it,” said Williams. “I guess it would have to be God who gave us strength to get through it.”

For more information about the team and to get a glimpse into their journey, visit http:// rideforwater.com.