Cyclists Will Cross America To Benefit Hunger Victims

An estimated 50 Harvard students will bicycle across the country next summer in Ride for Life's effect to publicize and fight world hunger, its coordinator said yesterday.

The prospective route, the group's second trip, will begin at the United Nations shortly after Harvard's commencement and culminate in Los Angeles in time for the Olympic Games, Michael J. Agoiardo '84 said.

Calling hunger a "silent, pervasive and needless killer." Agoiardo said last summer's cross-country ride focused attention on both the problem and on an organization seeking a solution: Oxfam America.

Oxfam, a Boston based charity, is the sole recipient of the Ride for Life 1983 proceeds. According to Oxfam spokesman Julia Sinclair, 41 percent of Ride for Life's $70,000 pledge has materialized to date. She added that the ride has made "a dramatic difference" in the organization by developing resource pools from Iowa to Oregon.

According to Agoiardo, the next ride will differ from the last by lasting eight instead of nine and one-half weeks, and traveling from east to west Last summer's trip went from Seattle to Boston.

With additional riders involved. Agoiardo hopes to raise more money. "We know the ins and outs of fundraising now and should have more success in approaching corporations," he said yesterday, adding that most money comes from individual pledges.

While the Ride for Life has not announced charities it plans to support. Agoiardo said he favors a continuation with Oxfam America because of their value as an "apolitical, low-overhead group which gets to the root of the problem in Third World nations," instead of providing only short term princess.

Agoiardo proposed a sensitive plan at a meeting Monday to meet up with a Denver-based group. Cyclists to End World Hunger, in Coloreds, where cyclists from Medics, Florida, and Canada will gather before converging on the Olympics.

Last summer's trip was funded by $40,000 in corporate contributions, Sinclair said. New York's Sheraton Hotel donated $8,000 in accommodations, while United Airlines provided a cut-rate flight to Seattle and Kabuki Bicycles gave a discount on equipment.