Columbus Miracle Riders will use Pony Express theme to ‘change lives’ with fundraiser
Scott Ressmeyer and this year’s Miracle Riders will tap into the history of the Pony Express from the Old West, delivering cards with personal greetings to people as they travel across the country raising awareness and money for the nursing program at Columbus State University.
Recipients of the cards were selected from more than 40 submissions made by people with Chattahoochee Valley connections to the Miracle Ride website this year, according to the news release.
The cards will be placed inside envelopes and have the Miracle Ride logo. They are imprinted with a photo of some of the Miracle Riders on horseback. There is space inside where those selected will provide handwritten messages to family and friends.
Eleven riders will join Ressmeyer on the trip to 34 states. They will travel nearly 9,500 miles round-trip and are scheduled to deliver the notes to people in 32 communities. Riders not participating in the full ride will deliver personalized greetings to several people in Georgia.
“We are always excited about the ride and telling the story of CSU’s nursing program, but this year is something special,” Ressmeyer stated in the press release. “This year, we get to connect friends with friends and families with families through the Pony Express.”
According to the National Pony Express Association, the Pony Express delivered mail on horseback for 18 months between April 1860 and October 1861.
“Young men once rode horses to carry mail from Missouri to California in the unprecedented time of only 10 days! This relay system along the Pony Express National Historic Trail crossing eight states was the most direct and practical means of east-west communications in 1860. From Missouri to California the Pony Express riders could deliver a letter faster than ever before,” says their web page.
Funds raised will go to the new neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) simulation lab at CSU. The lab is scheduled to open to nursing students and faculty this fall.
A premature baby mannequin from Laerdal, a company specializing in medical simulation technology and education, will be used in the lab. Other equipment will include a simulation radiant warmer bed to regulate an infant’s temperature, routine and emergency equipment sized for premature infants, and “skill trainers” for practicing procedures for inserting intravenous needles in scalp veins and completing heel sticks for lab blood draws.
“The Miracle Riders literally change lives,” Margie Yates, dean of the university’s College of Education & Health Professions said in the news release. “Each of our students who train in this new NICU simulation lab and the other two labs they have established will in turn care for thousands of patients during their careers. This is a state-of-the-art experience that universities our size — and even some larger than Columbus State — can’t offer their nursing students.”
The Miracle Riders have supported the CSU’s nursing program since 2021. To date, they have raised $600,000 through three rides toward a $1 million goal.
“This is the greatest group of men I have ever had the opportunity to spend time with,” CSU president Stuart Rayfield said in the news release. “For Columbus State to be affiliated with them is our honor and our privilege. I want to thank these guys; their heart for Columbus and every child in our community means everything to Columbus State. We are the lucky beneficiaries of their hard work and devotion.”
The Miracle Riders leave from CSU’s Frank D. Brown Hall in downtown Columbus on May 2 at 10:15 a.m. They are scheduled to arrive back in Columbus on May 23 for a celebration and concert on Broadway.