Team Alma

Team Alma riders pedal to break the cycle of violence.  We ride to support the Alma Center and its healing-focused approach to creating peaceful change.  2018 marks the 5th year that Team Alma will pedal 430 miles across Iowa in the RAGBRAI biking event. 

Each mile we ride, we raise money for the Alma Center’s violence prevention work and reentry services. Team Alma brings people together who might never find themselves in the same space, let alone sharing a joint vision, building positive relationships, and creating life-long memories.  Our team includes riders from across the spectrum –federal prosecutor, executive director of a domestic violence victim service agency, energetic healer, bilingual psychologist, 25-year police force veteran – and several men who were previously incarcerated, spending a combined total of more than 50 years behind bars.

Team Alma is on a wild journey of many, many miles of butt-creamed bums pedaling through never-ending corn fields. As always, there will be abundant pie, homemade ice cream and pork-chops on a stick, intense jockeying for hot showers, and magical recounting of the day’s adventures around a bonfire & wide-open sky. What a hoot!    

Why are we asking you to support this outrageous endeavor?  Wisconsin taxpayers spent more than $3.5 million dollars to punish the nine Team Alma bikers and Alma Center Reentry Guides during their combined 82 years spent in prison. Our goal is to raise 1% – $35,000 – which will go toward our work creating peaceful transformation of our community. 

In riding a bike across Iowa, these “Alma Brothers” provide a powerful example to other men behind bars about the boundless opportunities possible upon release.  

Team Alma is a role model in community building – getting to know each other, playing together, and sharing together leads to profound transformation which ripples out into the community. Our riders represent different stakeholders who bike, play, sweat, camp, laugh and eat pie – and we’ll share the joy and challenges through social media so you can understand and support our journey. 

We ask you to support your favorite riders or donate to the Alma Center overall. All donations are tax-deductible and will help us heal more men, and in doing so improve the lives of women, children and communities. Thank you!

Visit almacenter.org to learn more about our healing-focused care approach.