Tough activities draw more charity donations. Port Washington man is biking 4,300 miles.
"I rode 10,000 miles last year, just around Long Island and the New York metropolitan area, so I love cycling," said Jonathan Davis, of Port Washington, who will begin a nearly 4,300 bike trip on April 25. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
Topping the bucket list of Port Washington’s Jonathan Davis: riding a bicycle across America. He’s also eager to raise money to help cure vision loss, a condition afflicting his sister and his niece and over 6 million Americans.
Starting Friday, Davis, 61, will set out to accomplish both goals.
He’s departing Long Island for two months, riding 4,271 miles with an elevation gain of 133,410 feet via his Moots Routt RSL gravel bike packed with his camping gear, a survival kit and a route spanning 15 states westward to Oregon. Flying from the bike: a flag for the Foundation Fighting Blindness, as well as having a related QR code and business cards, which he hopes will be a beacon to spread word about the cause.
"So when I pull into campsites or restaurants or convenience stores, and people want to talk about my cross-country bike trip, you know, hopefully that’ll be part of the conversation," Davis said in an interview.
Why are so many fundraisers for worthy causes paired with arduous feats?
Research by Christopher Olivola, an associate professor of marketing at Carnegie Mellon University, found that sponsors are more willing to donate when a fundraiser for a cause — such as alleviating human suffering, disease and war — involves a difficult or unpleasant activity, he said: An ice bucket challenge. Walking with bare feet, on hot coal, or both.
Or a 4,271-mile bike ride.
"People are more willing to sponsor their friend or family or work colleague if that person is going to suffer to raise money," he said, "than if the person is gonna not do anything or do something easy and enjoyable."
On the Island and beyond, biking is a popular pastime for raising money, awareness or both, according to Newsday archives. Among the past decade’s rides: A Hauppauge high schooler biked 100 miles for autism. A ride from Wantagh to East Hampton to raise money for cancer research. A nearly 300-mile trip to raise funds for a national memorial for slain cops. A tour on the North Shore for a leukemia foundation.
For Davis, who is retired from mortgage finance at JPMorgan, his motivation is personal.
At 13, the dawn of Davis’ lifelong hobby of biking — he’d ride from his hometown of North Merrick down to Jones Beach — happened to coincide with when his sister, Davida Luehrs, began noticing her vision deteriorating: At a family outing to stargaze in the Adirondacks, someone remarked about the stars in the sky, to which she wondered, "What stars?"
"I just said, ‘oh, I’m just not seeing the stars at the moment.’ My mother didn’t make the connection, I didn’t make the connection," Luehrs said last week in an interview while she went for a walk with her guide dog, Chubb, a black Lab from the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind in Smithtown.
At age 28, during an ophthalmologist appointment to seek reading glasses, Luehrs was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a progressive, inherited eye disease of the retina.
"His words were literally, ‘I can’t help you,’ ” she recalled; the doctor told her she would go blind someday, she recalled. Luehrs is now 66 and living in Virginia.
"Imagine a coat of gray or white fuzz on everything. Limited distinguishing of colors. Zero peripheral vision," Luehrs said. She can barely read or see herself in the mirror.
Her daughter, Rachel, 35, also of Virginia — Davis’ niece — also has the disease, albeit in an earlier stage of degeneration. Both women have given up their driver’s licenses.
Vision loss spans a spectrum from mild blurriness to total blindness. Some types of vision loss, such as cataracts, can be treated, according to Dr. Emily Selenow, an assistant clinical professor at SUNY College of Optometry in Manhattan. Conditions like retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited disease affecting the retina, typically begin to show symptoms early in life and causes loss of peripheral vision and tunnel vision. Although there is no known cure for retinitis pigmentosa, she said, there is promising research that could one day bring a cure.
This week’s bike ride won’t be Davis’ first charity fundraiser.
Last year, he rode across Massachusetts for two days and raised $18,000 for cancer research.
This year, Davis’ route will take him from our metropolitan area to Lancaster, Pennsylvania (180 miles), onward to Pittsburgh (339 miles), to Zanesville, Ohio (148 miles), to Indianapolis (278 miles), to Atchison, Kansas (637 miles), to Walden, Colorado (808 miles), to Rawlins, Wyoming (108 miles), to West Yellowstone, Montana (469 miles), to Missoula (330 miles), to Baker City, Oregon (409 miles), to Coburg (342 miles), finishing in Astoria, Oregon (223 miles). He will fly home from Portland.
"I rode 10,000 miles last year, just around Long Island and the New York metropolitan area, so I love cycling. So to be able to do nothing but ride your bike and camp for two months is kind of a selfish thing to do, when you think about it," he said. "You’re leaving your wife and your family and your dog and everyone’s gotta figure out all the daily problems while you’re off riding your bike. So I wanted to at least give something back, and I think doing it as a fundraiser is the way to do that."
With less than five days to go until his trip, he's raised $18,276 — of a $30,000 goal.
Topping the bucket list of Port Washington’s Jonathan Davis: riding a bicycle across America. He’s also eager to raise money to help cure vision loss, a condition afflicting his sister and his niece and over 6 million Americans.
Starting Friday, Davis, 61, will set out to accomplish both goals.
He’s departing Long Island for two months, riding 4,271 miles with an elevation gain of 133,410 feet via his Moots Routt RSL gravel bike packed with his camping gear, a survival kit and a route spanning 15 states westward to Oregon. Flying from the bike: a flag for the Foundation Fighting Blindness, as well as having a related QR code and business cards, which he hopes will be a beacon to spread word about the cause.
"So when I pull into campsites or restaurants or convenience stores, and people want to talk about my cross-country bike trip, you know, hopefully that’ll be part of the conversation," Davis said in an interview.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- Jonathan Davis, of Port Washington, is riding a bicycle across America to raise money to help cure vision loss, which afflicts his sister and niece.
- An arduous, challenging or even unpleasant activity by a fundraiser is more likely to draw sponsors to donate to charitable causes, a researcher found.
- Davis' 4,271-mile bike ride begins in the metropolitan area on April 25 and ends two months later in Oregon.
Why are so many fundraisers for worthy causes paired with arduous feats?
Research by Christopher Olivola, an associate professor of marketing at Carnegie Mellon University, found that sponsors are more willing to donate when a fundraiser for a cause — such as alleviating human suffering, disease and war — involves a difficult or unpleasant activity, he said: An ice bucket challenge. Walking with bare feet, on hot coal, or both.
Or a 4,271-mile bike ride.
'Suffer to raise money'
"People are more willing to sponsor their friend or family or work colleague if that person is going to suffer to raise money," he said, "than if the person is gonna not do anything or do something easy and enjoyable."
On the Island and beyond, biking is a popular pastime for raising money, awareness or both, according to Newsday archives. Among the past decade’s rides: A Hauppauge high schooler biked 100 miles for autism. A ride from Wantagh to East Hampton to raise money for cancer research. A nearly 300-mile trip to raise funds for a national memorial for slain cops. A tour on the North Shore for a leukemia foundation.
For Davis, who is retired from mortgage finance at JPMorgan, his motivation is personal.
Davida Luehrs — who has retinitis pigmentosa, a progressive, inherited eye disease of the retina — with her guide dog, Chubb, a black lab. Credit: Davida Luehrs
At 13, the dawn of Davis’ lifelong hobby of biking — he’d ride from his hometown of North Merrick down to Jones Beach — happened to coincide with when his sister, Davida Luehrs, began noticing her vision deteriorating: At a family outing to stargaze in the Adirondacks, someone remarked about the stars in the sky, to which she wondered, "What stars?"
"I just said, ‘oh, I’m just not seeing the stars at the moment.’ My mother didn’t make the connection, I didn’t make the connection," Luehrs said last week in an interview while she went for a walk with her guide dog, Chubb, a black Lab from the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind in Smithtown.
'I can't help you'
At age 28, during an ophthalmologist appointment to seek reading glasses, Luehrs was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a progressive, inherited eye disease of the retina.
"His words were literally, ‘I can’t help you,’ ” she recalled; the doctor told her she would go blind someday, she recalled. Luehrs is now 66 and living in Virginia.
"Imagine a coat of gray or white fuzz on everything. Limited distinguishing of colors. Zero peripheral vision," Luehrs said. She can barely read or see herself in the mirror.
Her daughter, Rachel, 35, also of Virginia — Davis’ niece — also has the disease, albeit in an earlier stage of degeneration. Both women have given up their driver’s licenses.
Vision loss spans a spectrum from mild blurriness to total blindness. Some types of vision loss, such as cataracts, can be treated, according to Dr. Emily Selenow, an assistant clinical professor at SUNY College of Optometry in Manhattan. Conditions like retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited disease affecting the retina, typically begin to show symptoms early in life and causes loss of peripheral vision and tunnel vision. Although there is no known cure for retinitis pigmentosa, she said, there is promising research that could one day bring a cure.
An expert rider
This week’s bike ride won’t be Davis’ first charity fundraiser.
Last year, he rode across Massachusetts for two days and raised $18,000 for cancer research.
This year, Davis’ route will take him from our metropolitan area to Lancaster, Pennsylvania (180 miles), onward to Pittsburgh (339 miles), to Zanesville, Ohio (148 miles), to Indianapolis (278 miles), to Atchison, Kansas (637 miles), to Walden, Colorado (808 miles), to Rawlins, Wyoming (108 miles), to West Yellowstone, Montana (469 miles), to Missoula (330 miles), to Baker City, Oregon (409 miles), to Coburg (342 miles), finishing in Astoria, Oregon (223 miles). He will fly home from Portland.
"I rode 10,000 miles last year, just around Long Island and the New York metropolitan area, so I love cycling. So to be able to do nothing but ride your bike and camp for two months is kind of a selfish thing to do, when you think about it," he said. "You’re leaving your wife and your family and your dog and everyone’s gotta figure out all the daily problems while you’re off riding your bike. So I wanted to at least give something back, and I think doing it as a fundraiser is the way to do that."
With less than five days to go until his trip, he's raised $18,276 — of a $30,000 goal.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
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