Haggie Mazler is helping the disabled by doing something most
able-bodied people don’t ““ biking across the
nation.
The second-year economics student is spending over two months on
two wheels this summer, biking 3,900 miles from San Francisco to
Charleston, S.C., in an effort to raise money and help educate
people about the disabled.
“You have to see the ability in the disability,”
Mazler said.
The trek, named the Journey for Hope, is sponsored by Push
America, a non-profit agency created in 1977 by the fraternity Pi
Kappa Phi.
Mazler, who is in the fraternity, will be joining 70 other
undergraduate students from across the nation but is the only
student from UCLA making the trip.
Journey for Hope was first started in 1987, but UCLA
hasn’t had representation in the event since 2000.
“We’re real excited to have somebody back from UCLA
representing the Southwest,” said Basil Lyberg, director of
cycling events for Push America.
The journey starts June 13, and the group will split into two
smaller packs of 35 scheduled to take two different routes to
Charleston.
In previous years, the trip ended in Washington D.C., but this
year the ride is ending in Charleston because the fraternity is
holding its centennial celebration.
Mazler, who is taking one of his final exams early and turning a
project in early for another, is taking the southern route,
traveling through Nevada, Texas and Georgia among other states.
Averaging around 75 miles of travel a day, the groups are
scheduled to stop in several cities along the way, meeting with
disabled people, students at summer camps and civic leaders among
others.
Lyberg said the undergraduate students would be advocating and
educating on behalf of the disabled.
One of the ways the group educates students is through their
puppet show “Kids on the Block.”
Push America is also scheduled to deliver grants along the way
to organizations that help the disabled.
The Recreation Center for the Handicapped Inc. is an
organization in San Francisco that assists disabled people with
their work and living needs. They have also been working with Push
America for the past few years.
“They provide tremendous manpower and spirit,” said
Jay Katz, a social worker with RCH.
When the cyclists visit RCH this summer, they are scheduled to
play basketball against RCH’s disabled team.
This will not be the first time Mazler has worked with the
disabled. He spent spring break his first year of college in Santa
Cruz at a camp for disabled students, and Pi Kappa Phi philanthropy
events often center around raising money or working with the
disabled.
Mazler started planning for this summer’s trip months ago,
and was required to raise $5,000. Overall, the participants in the
trip collect close to $375,000 for the disabled.
“Before the guys even pedal one mile, they’ve
already made some pretty incredible accomplishments,” Lyberg
said.
Mazler was funded by his parents, friends and friends of
friends, he said.