Minnesota raft rider returns to Cape to thank supporters

Erich Mische's unusual 1,700-mile, two-month, 10-state raft trip last fall, which brought him to Cape Girardeau and many other cities and towns along the Mississippi River, saved his not-for-profit organization, the Minnesota man said -- and he's coming back to southeast Missouri to show his gratitude and to push a tale he's written about the experience.

Mische, 58, will be in Cape Wednesday at the river's Broadway floodgate at Broadway and Water streets -- from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 5 to 7 p.m. -- to sell and sign copies of his book, "Hope on the River."

Mische, a former chief of staff to ex-U.S. Senator Norm Coleman, said his nine-year old nonprofit, called Spare Key, had reached a financial crossroads during the height of COVID-19.

"As the pandemic deepened in 2020, we were in serious jeopardy of having to close our doors. Fundraising had dried up. Events were being cancelled. We were looking at anywhere from a $500,000 to $750,000 deficit -- which for a small not-for-profit like ours really is lethal," Mische said. "We had to come up with something, so I thought a raft journey would be eye-catching and compelling to people, even though I knew nothing about boating. We ended up raising more than $275,000, more than my initial goal, which was critical to our capacity to operate."

Mische, who said he had $5,000 in out-of-pocket expenses for the trip, said most of the fundraising came through sponsorships he sold.

"The raft looked like something out of NASCAR, because we had advertising plastered all over it. I had a beef jerky sponsor, a portable solar power sponsor, a boat motor sponsor, among many others. [The trip] was an idea borne out of desperation. There is no other way we could have raised the amount of money we did with any other idea at that time," he said.

Local thanks

Mische said he never would have made it from St. Paul, Minnesota to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, without the help of people who live along the river's route, such as John McGowan, with Commerce Bank in Cape Girardeau.

"I helped [Erich] with a sponsor to pay for his hotel at Courtyard by Marriott, arranged for a meal at Pilot House, helped him connect with local media and with mayors further south on the Mississippi," said McGowan Monday.

"Candidly, and I write about this in [my] book, I survived this trip thanks to the kindness of strangers -- to guys like John, people who reached out to help and gave me a safe place to tie up, who fixed my engine, helped me find a pump to get water for the pontoon so it wouldn't sink. You don't complete this journey without a lot of people rooting for you, praying for you, and extending a hand," said Mische, who sold his raft immediately after completing his river adventure.

Drilling down

A "Hope on the River" van will be in Cape Girardeau Wednesday as Spare Key executive director Erich Mische returns to Southeast Missouri to say thanks for community support for his fall 2020 journey down the Mississippi River. The not-for-profit staged a 10-state boat trip in a successful effort to save his financially struggling not-for-profit organization. Mische has written a book about the experience.Courtesy Erich Mische

Spare Key, a 501(c)(3) organization in good standing with the Missouri Secretary of State, exists to help people in crisis, said Mische.

"We help with major bills in cases of critical or serious injury, in helping meet mortgage and utility payments, student loans and funeral expenses," he added, noting Spare Key has assisted 4,000 families dealing with nearly $4 million in debt.

Mische said there were harrowing moments.

"I once had to pull a handgun about five miles from St. Charles to dissuade some men on a duck boat who made multiple attempts to swamp my vessel," he said.

Asked if he would ever attempt a trip like this in the future, Mische was definitive.

"No, not on a raft, but I am traveling in a rusty yellow van on land over the next three weeks re-tracing my steps -- hoping, among other things, to thank those along the way who helped me."