Greencastle, Pa., man riding bike through Greencastle, Ind.

Matthew Smith will be departing from the Borough of Greencastle, Pa., this Sunday at 7 a.m. Smith says he will be riding all day only to stop for a short break to snack on power bars and peanut butter. For rest, he will spend the night at hotels along the way on his three-week ride. He expects to come through Greencastle, Ind., arriving at the end of next week or the following week.

Courtesy photo

Ride to Vegas promotes child abuse awareness

GREENCASTLE, PA. -- Matthew Smith, a Borough of Greencastle, Pa., councilman will leave Sunday on a three-week awareness and fundraising mission, riding his bicycle on a 2,500-mile journey that will take him through Greencastle, Ind., and ultimately to Las Vegas. All in the name of promoting child abuse awareness.

The 39-year-old Smith, who expects to reach Indiana’s Greencastle by the end of the coming week (Oct. 15-21) or the start of the next week, is riding on behalf of BlueRibbons4Justice, based in Greencastle, Pa. A non-profit organization seeking to promote awareness for child abuse and abuse victims, its current goal is to bring awareness of child abuse to everyone.

Bob Spessard is the co-founder of BlueRibbons4Justice, and his wife, Michelle Spessard, is the founder.

Spessard said Smith -- a serious cyclist and marathon runner -- already had the ride on his bucket list but didn’t want to do it “just for no reason.” So when the opportunity came to partner with BlueRibbons4Justice to promote child abuse awareness as a cause, he jumped at the chance.

“And he made it a point to plan to go through Greencastle, Ind.,” Spessard assured.

Smith will generally travel U.S. 11, U.S. 50 and later Route 66 as he travels up to 150 miles a day. It remains uncertain what routes he will take to get into Greencastle.

Meanwhile, Spessard and his wife have been working the past two years on the idea of making an abuse registry that is open to the public.

“We know that a registry already exists at the state level,” he said. “Police officers, as well as screening services for employment, have access to this registry. Having this registry open to the public will provide the information needed so that you can decide if an individual is a good fit to be around you or your family members. By making the registry public it could also identify individuals with a record of child abuse or neglect as well as helping to mitigate risk from known child abuse and or neglect offenders.

“Michelle and I would go into Greencastle and attend the council meetings at the borough hall around February every year. We want to ask permission so we can place blue ribbons on the parking meters and telephone poles in April. We do this in April because it is child abuse prevention month.

“A few months ago, Matthew (a councilman) contacted me and spoke about wanting to take a bike ride from Greencastle, Pa., to Las Vegas.”

That’s a journey of 2,555 miles and 214 hours traveling by bicycle, according to Google.

“At first, I thought that he was kidding,” Spessard said, “and I let the idea go. Matthew persisted and later contacted me again and brought up the trip a second time. We spoke briefly and then decided to go to breakfast and discuss the trip.”

Smith reiterated that the trip was on his bucket list, and he was going to do it anyway but “wanted to make the trip even more meaningful so he decided to team up with BlueRibbons4Justice and help bring awareness to the representatives, delegates and councilmen in all the cities and towns along his route,” Spessard said.

BlueRibbons4Justice can be found online www.blueribbons4justice.com or at Facebook @ BlueRibbons4Justice.

The organization is seeking to make open to the public state registries and records of individuals who have been identified by protective services or the local judicial system that have committed abuse or neglect.