Family pedals through 17 states for charity

~ They are raising money for and awareness of a foundation that supports children in China who are awaiting adoption.

A family that is bicycling across the nation will soon be in the Cape Girardeau area.

Kate Nunes, her husband, Ron, and 6-year-old daughter Elizabeth launched their tour from their home in Jacksonville, Fla., to Poulsbo, Wash., on April 6.

They will leave Kate Nunes' niece's home in Goreville, Ill., and pedal on their triplet bike to Southeast Missouri today, which is Mother's Day, or Monday. The Nuneses anticipate meeting relatives and a host family in Jackson, arranged by the Half the Sky Foundation.

The foundation supports children in China who are awaiting adoption.

The Nuneses planned to complete the tour in four to six months and raise $15,000. On the tour for only a month and a week, the Nuneses have already raised $4,000.

HTS was named for the Chinese adage "Women hold up half the sky." Ninety-five percent of the healthy children who live in China's welfare institutions are girls. The foundation's mission is to help them and their brothers hold up their half of the sky.

For Kate Nunes, the idea of choosing adoption was planted in her head at age 12 or 13.

"I grew up baby-sitting kids from overseas. I always wanted to adopt. Ron felt the same way," she said.

After reading some of the literature on orphaned children who need parents, Kate thought, why bring another child into the world when the world is already overpopulated?

Elizabeth celebrated her first birthday in China. She was three days shy of a year when the Nuneses adopted her from an orphanage in China's Anhui province. While there, they toured one of the HTS programs aimed to provide stimulation, individual attention and an active learning environment to orphaned children. The Nuneses then began sponsoring other children through HTS.

Their adventure is taking them through 17 states including Florida, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Nevada.

Ron and Kate Nunes do most of the work while Elizabeth sings, tells herself stories and looks at the rearview mirror attached to her handlebar.

Weather makes the timing of destination points loose.

"You don't want to run into a storm when you have a child when shelter may be 50 miles away," Kate Nunes said.

There are other aspects of the trip that center on maternal concerns. The Nuneses stop about every 45 minutes for Elizabeth because her growing body needs food more regularly than an adult rider. The Nuneses also want their daughter to experience small towns, meet people she might not "normally" talk to, smile, wave and have a good time.

Kate described the change in her life since motherhood as a "concrete example of how everything changes and as time passes by how you become more interested because you want to leave the world a better place for your kids. You're more sensitive, more aware of what you do to set a good example."

The Half the Sky Foundation received a four-star rating from Charity Navigator, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization that does not accept contributions from the charities it evaluates. One hundred percent of tax-deductible donations go to HTS.

cpagano@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133