Wylie Mao Bikes Across Country For His Passion

Wylie Mao set a huge goal for himself when he committed to riding across the country to raise money for charity. Being 16 years old and having only taken occasional long bike trips, Mao had his reservations about the trip (as did his parents), but he wanted to prove to himself he could do it. He also knew he would be in good company riding with a group of 12 others, all biking to raise money for their favorite charities. The trip took approximately six weeks with somewhere between 40 to 120 miles of riding each day and in addition to raising money from family and friends he also picked up donations along the way. Mao was biking to support "One Day's Wages," which is an organization that encourages people to donate what they make in one day to combat global poverty. He set out to raise $5,000 and ended up raising more than $8,000 that the organization will use to bring clean drinking water to a community in a developing country. "There's nothing that qualified me to do this, just determination and time," he said. "I made as much of a difference as I could. I made a dent in the issues that I'm passionate about." Do you know someone who is making a positive difference in the world? Nominate them for next week's AmericanTowns Hero.