A Speical Invitation From John Charles Macpherson —
Past Chairman of the U.S. Branch
Dear Cousins,
I am writing to let you know about an extraordinary
trip that two Scotsmen are making across America beginning on June 28th.
They are riding across the country to raise awareness of an awful syndrome
called Moebius Syndrome. This syndrome presents at birth with total facial
paralysis. Imagine if your child could never smile, blink his or her
eyes, never show anykind of facial emotion for the rest of his or her life.
Colin Wead and Iain White will set out from New York City and travel west in
kilts on motorcycles to let people know about this terrible syndrome. In
the U.S. over 200.000 people suffer. The charity is the Moebius Research
Foundation, a registered charity in Scotland. Moebius is an orphan syndrome and thus not much research is being conducted. The
Moebius Foundation of the United States is on board with this fund-raising effort.
Why are they doing this?
Colin's son George suffers from Moebius Syndrome and there is great research
going on in Scotland, being funded by the Moebius Research Foundation of
which Colin and Iain are the founders. While riding across this country
they will be stopping in many cities. My wife, Annie, has volunteered to become U.S.
Coordinator for their trip as George's story has touched my heart. You can
go to their website www.kiltsacrossamerica.co.uk to learn more. I am hopeing
that once she has finished mapping out their route, cousins along the
route will get in touch with them and welcome them. Annie will be sending them
from NYC to Washington D.C. (Leesburg) and then on I-64 to I-70 and points west. There will be a
detour to the Grand Canyon followed by a stop in Las Vegas where there is an event
planned and then on to L.A. Howie Nicolby of 21st Century Kilts has designed
kilts especially made for bike riding so that when the wind blows high,
nothing will be revealed. I ask the family of Clan Macpherson to open your
hearts to both Colin and Iain and, if possible, make a small donation. If you can't and you
live in any of the areas they will be passing through, get in contact with
them and help out any way that you can. Annie will be posting the route on their website and also their U.S. phone
numbers.
For those of you who live in the NYC area there will be a send off party at St. Andrews
Restaurant on either the 27th or 28th of June. The final date will be posted later. There
will be a silent auction including the winning of a dinner for 12 cooked at
your home by the chef of St. Andrews, a single malt scotch worth over
$1,000 a basket of goodies from the Scottish Grocer, a rare Harley-Davidson
leather motorcycle jacket and a kilt donated by Howie. Howie's father is
Geoffery Taylor. In Scotland you may have already heard about this.
If you are a biker and would like to join Colin and Iain on a part of the
ride, there will be a registration form on the Kilts Across America website shortly.
|
