VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Ed Anderson is biking four thousand miles across the country to raise money and awareness for adoption.
He is the franchise owner of the Wendy's on Jefferson Avenue in Newport News.
"I started thinking about the fact that I've worked for Wendy's for 36 years and Dave gave me the opportunity to live the American dream," says Anderson. "And I wanted to give back in a small way."
Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy's, was adopted. He spent most of his life raising money and awareness for the power of adoption through the Dave Thomas Foundation.
"The reality is there are over 130,000 people in foster care right now," says Anderson. "The idea is - how can we help them to find forever homes, because the statistics are alarming for those that actually age out of foster care without a parent or a family to lean on."
Anderson decided that now was the time for him to help.
"I was on a training run and I rode by a ball field where these little kids were practicing baseball and it occurred to me that all those little kids had mom and dads that took them there," he says. "I've thought about that continually as these kids in foster care until they find a forever home, they don’t have that. So that keeps me going on... thinking about how can I impact that and have a lasting effect out there."
He'll be riding his bike four thousand miles over ten weeks, averaging 70 miles a day, with the goal of raising one million dollars for the Wendy's Foundation. He's hoping the feat will make people think about their own situation and how they can help others.
"In a way they’ll look retrospectively at how lucky they are that they have a mom and a dad or a grandma and a grandpa," hopes Anderson. "It's important in this day and age that we realize how important family is and if that happens I think it's been a huge win for me and for the Wendy's organization whose supporting me."
If you'd like to donate or find out more about Ed's Tour de Adoption click here.
