River Riding, Reading and Raising Cash

Anyone who would dare touch a toe to the muddy, turbulent Missouri River deserves a cash award ... or medication. But in this case, the money is flowing in the opposite direction, as a group of river riding fundraisers brought home more than $4,000 for Race to Read, a nonprofit group, according to an article in the Kansas City Star by Mindy Kinnaman

The "Missouri River 340" is an annual event -- some would say, "race" -- from Kansas City to St. Charles on the river. It is sometimes described as the world’s longest nonstop river race.

More than 250 participants shoved off on this year's race, some in kayaks, some in canoes. Lohn Weber was one of 90 kayakers who competed, according to Kinnaman. He came in 11th in the race, with a time of just under 61 hours.

“It was quite a challenging race, probably the most challenging I’ve endured,” Weber told Kinnaman.

But it was more than just a race to Weber. He wanted to raise money while he was out there rowing his butt off for nearly three days. Kinnaman's goal was to raise enough money to buy the Scholastic Reading Inventory software for the Nativity of Mary School, where his kids are students. The program helps students improve reading skills and costs $3,500.

Another Nativity of Mary parent, Dan Salva, set up a blog at racetoread.blogspot.com, which Weber used to send fundraising e-mails and to tell the tale of his trip.

“(The response) was terrific…,” Weber told Kinnaman. “Of everyone I sent the letter to, 90 percent contributed.”

But the race was tough. Weber's blog describes how he rowed all day on the river, stopped at checkpoints to pick up water and food and make blog entries.

“Kayaking at night on the Missouri River is not fun and actually pretty scary at times,” Weber wrote. “Things that you can see clearly during the daytime like wing dikes, buoys, logs, fallen trees and barges can only be heard or their silhouettes made out for the most part at night time. In addition, the reaction time that you have to safely avoid such hazards is shortened substantially.”

Now that's parental dedication. And in the end, Weber's efforts paid off for Nativity of Mary. The reading software is up and running.

Photo courtesy of hugh.buzacott, via Flickr