Marco man plans 500-mile bike ride for HIV/AIDS group

Wednesday, March 27, 2002

By RAY PARKER, brparker@naplesnews.com

Distinguished teacher Thomas Croce will begin a bike ride Sunday, peddling 100 miles a day for five days, from Tallahassee to Naples, the whole time sporting a funky hairdo.

The spring break ride is his idea: to raise $20,000 for the Friends Together organization, which helps people with HIV/AIDS.

Thom Croce, of Marco Island, trains for his upcoming bike ride fund-raiser by riding from Gulf Coast High School to Naples Fitness Center on Monday. Croce will ride 500 miles in five days from Tallahassee to Naples, and all the proceeds raised will go to Friends-Together, an organization that works with individuals and families infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. At this point, Croce has raised $6,500 in pledges, though he hopes to raise $20,000. Chris Zuppa/Staff

His platinum blond, geometric shaped hairstyle comes courtesy of his students, who've supported his efforts by dropping nickels, dimes and dollars into a kitty.

"If we reached over $250, he agreed to cut and die his hair in geometric shapes, and that's what happened," said Dan Murphy, 15, a Gulf Coast High freshman in Croce's algebra class.

Megan Besing, 15, said: "He's doing it out of his own time and raising the money for this group, and we wanted to do something also."

Croce has ridden in similar events the last five years, but after discovering almost a third of the money raised goes to overhead costs, he came up with The Friends Together AIDS Ride. He'll pay for all the costs so every penny raised goes to the nonprofit.

Those interested can contribute to: Friends Together/AIDS Ride, SunTrust Bank, 801 Laurel Oak Drive, Naples, 34108; or log on to www.friendstogether.org.

Conceding he's not a bicyclist, Croce said he's been training since January on the weekends, riding for up to 6½ hours.

His biggest challenge will be endurance on the five-day trip, which ends in Naples on Thursday, April 4.

"The first day is OK," he said, smiling. "It's getting on the bike the second, third, fourth and fifth day that's hard."

Still, the 1997 Golden Apple award winner said the trip isn't really about him but Cathy Robinson and her organization.

	AT A GLANCE
	Those interested can contribute to: Friends Together/AIDS Ride, SunTrust Bank, 801 Laurel Oak Drive, Naples, 34108; or log on to www.friendstogether.org.

For nearly a decade, Robinson has fought against the odds to become one of Florida's leading AIDS activists, once driving an average of 70,000 miles a year delivering her message to schools.

"I heard her throughout my middle school years," said Gulf Coast High's Besing. "I like her foundation and how she's trying to" help people with HIV/AIDS.

Robinson has many admirers.

"Cathy is not (the students') picture of someone having AIDS; she's a mother with two kids," Croce said, referring to one reason she's been effective with young people.

Youngsters need Robinson's message now more than ever, Croce added.

National and state statistics show HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is disproportionately spreading among black and Hispanic men, and women nationwide.

And youth are among the groups most at risk of contracting the deadly virus. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta estimates that half of the new HIV infections hit Americans under the age of 25.

In Florida, one in 156 people are HIV positive.

"The disease in on the rise," Croce said. "I believe you need to do something, get in action, about something you believe in."

Even if it does involve a wacky haircut for a serious cause.