Statement of Purpose

The Journeyride Project: The journey beings November 16, 2009
 
If actions speak louder than words then a three thousand mile bicycling journey across the United States is sure to be a message heard from Massachusetts to California.  The purpose of the ride is to connect with people across the country, bringing society closer together as a community, creating a solution to end homelessness and hunger, and leading the world into a new era.
 
French physicist and two time Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie once said, “Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood.”  We must embrace that which we fear and the most common denominator of fear is a lack of understanding.  Performance artist Jonas Cain explores such themes in his work, which has motivated him to develop the Journeyride Project having personally witnessed these issues, to understand the root causes of chronic and severe poverty which are primary causes of homelessness. 
 
According to the 2005 United Nations Commission on Human Rights, an estimated one hundred million people worldwide are homeless.  Embarking from his home community in Western Massachusetts with only that which he can comfortably carry on a bicycle, Cain is leaving behind family, friends, the comfort that they lend, and all that he has ever known, to embrace the fear and mystery of uncertainty so he can fully acquaint himself with what millions of people experience every day.
 
The ride will be filled with valuable social, economical and environmental circumstances influencing the resulting discoveries.  Along the over three hundred thousand mile zigzag route across the United States, Cain will meet people from all walks of life, hearing their stories of struggle and perseverance, allowing him to use their voice in this journey of discovery.  Concluding the ride he will use these experiences in a manuscript illustrating the discoveries that only an assignment like this will reveal.
 
Please show your support for this project by tracking the progress at www.JonasCain.com and by making a donation to your local shelters and food pantries.  But please remember that charity only goes so far.  “By finding the root cause of an individual’s poverty and eliminating that cause,” Cain says, “there will be no need for such charities.”  A world so blessed will be a more peaceful world indeed.