Speaker: Jeff Molby

5:30 - 6:00: Club Social & Business Meeting

6:00 - 6:30: Speaker

 

Jeff Molby is a Rotarian from Caro, Michigan where he's been volunteering for the American Cancer Society through Relay For Life for the last few years. He's also a minimalist who loves to travel, so in October, he sold everything and set off on a two-year bike tour around the country in order to help people get to their chemo appointments.

 

Once upon a time, Jeff's son was invited by a friend to join their Boy Scout troop. At the first meeting, he found out the troop leadership had all stepped down. Twenty minutes later, he was on the new council as treasurer.

None of them really knew how to run a Boy Scout troop, though, so Jeff went to visit the troop’s sponsor: the Rotary Club of Caro, Michigan. He was blown away by the warm welcome and the values embodied in the four-way test, so… a couple weeks later he had his red badge.

Around the same time, Jeff was dating a woman who opened his eyes to the good work the American Cancer Society was doing through Relay For Life. He loved being involved in a problem that was truly global in scale and yet still profoundly local in impact. His initial involvement was limited, but then he took on an outsized role to help restart things after covid.

Jeff’s son went off to college this past fall, leaving him with an empty nest and a thirst for adventure. That’s when he learned about the American Cancer Society’s Road to Recovery program and how they use volunteer drivers to help people get to their treatments.

They too need a post-pandemic boost, so Jeff combined his love of traveling and cycling to his fight against cancer, setting off on a multi-year bike tour around the country in order to raise money and recruit drivers.

In Jeff's presentation, you will learn: 

• Cancer treatment often requires a ton of transportation which is a huge burden on patients and their support systems
• The American Cancer Society's Road to Recovery program has been helping with this problem for over 40 years
• Road to Recovery works like Uber except the driver is a volunteer and the goal is to save a life
• Since the pandemic, it has been incredibly short on drivers.
• Jeff is a semi-retired empty-nester who took it upon himself to raise the alarm.
• He's here to show the community how they can help their neighbors in need
• Recruiting drivers to get people to their appointments
• Recruiting sponsors to help with program overhead (support, dispatching, background checks, etc)
• Recruiting cyclists to become the local voice for this cause
• Recruiting fans to spread the word and cheer everyone on