Pennsylvania native Jack Broomall doesn’t necessarily have a strong connection to Alaska or cancer. Yet the retired auto industry engineering executive feels strongly about both and is connecting the two with a coast-to-coast motorcycle ride he’s promoting via social networking.
Broomall, of Malvern, left Wednesday for a seven-week, 10,000-plus mile motorcycle ride to Alaska and the Pacific Northwest to generate awareness and donations for the Austin Hatcher Foundation, a Tennessee-based charity that supports research for pediatric cancer. He’ll update his trip via his blog, 2wheels2alaska.com, and on Twitter.
“Beyond donations, the thing that charitable organizations can use the most is awareness,” says Broomall, a freelance motorsports engineer since he retired from a Big Three automaker in 2004. “Sharing the story in real time with narratives and pictures via these contemporary media seemed an obvious way to spread awareness for the Hatcher Foundation.”
Broomall has been to Alaska before, but in a single-engine light plane. This time, his wife Lisa will be taking a commercial flight there, while Broomall will take the 4,500-mile trip on the seat of his 2007 BMW F650GS. Broomall’s journey started at RevZilla Motorsports, one of his trip’s sponsors, in South Philadelphia. RevZilla does a brisk online business and will use its web presence to promote Broomall’s ride.
The Hatcher Foundation was founded by a Tennessee couple who lost their three-month old baby to an aggressive cancer in 2006. Broomall met them in 1995 at a charity event in Atlanta.
“I am continuously struck by both the bravery, strength and resilience of the stricken children and the families that love them,” says Broomall, a native of Media and a Penn State University graduate. “I am humbled to be able to support the Foundation’s efforts in a very small way.”
Source: Jack Broomall, 2wheels2alaska.com
Writer: Joe Petrucci
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