Personal Appeal

Dear Team Switchback supporter,

Next June, Eric Begin and I will be racing our bicycles in the 2010 Race Across the West (www.raceacrossthewest.org), which travels from Oceanside, California to Durango, Colorado in a non-stop, around the clock race.

The Race Across the West (RAW) is held in conjunction with the Race Across America (RAAM) bicycle race, termed the "world's toughest sporting event" by Outside Magazine. Eric Begin is a one time RAAM-crewing veteran and was my crew chief during my successful 2008 solo RAAM effort. I have raced RAAM three times and the 4-man team I was on last year WON the race. The RAW is an international, highly esteemed competition and we are excited to be participating as a 2-man team.

For 2010, Eric and I have created "Team Switchback," founded on the principal that real, everyday people can effect positive, lasting change in world. We all have "switchbacks" in our life and sometimes it's hard to figure out when the road will straighten out and the top of the mountain will be reached. Eric and I are using our talents for endurance athletics to help straighten that road out for people and causes all over the globe.

Team Switchback is partnering with the Southern Exposure foundation (SEF), a group based in Arvada, CO that works with the impoverished citizens of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico and builds homes for them in the city that the BBC recently called the "murder capital of the world." Juarez is located a short distance across the border from El Paso, Texas and has become a major battleground for drug smugglers and major drug cartels.

There is terrible violence and poverty in Juarez (over 2600 murders last year) and the Southern Exposure foundation is hoping to bring a semblance of "normalcy" back to its citizens by building homes and employing skilled labor in the area. The SEF has built over 230 homes so far, approximately 30% of which are inhabited by single mothers and their children.

Team Switchback is raising funds and awareness for this incredibly difficult humanitarian effort by participating in the Race Across the West. YOU can directly impact our endeavor by sending a tax-deductible donation to the address at the end of this letter. Every single dollar raised with DIRECTLY impact our and the SEF's mission. Eric and I are hoping to raise at least enough money to build one single family home in Juarez (approximately $4500 USD).

Won't YOU help Team Switchback and the citizens of Ciudad Juarez?

Checks can be made out to:

Southern Exposure
c/o Tim Case
PO Box 270671
Louisville, CO 80027


Sincerely,

Tim Case
Team Switchback
2010 Race Across the West
www.teamswitchback.blogspot.com
Join us on Facebook!