The AIDS Vaccine Ride is a ride inspired by kindness, some say.
“It was amazing, like five days of heaven. It’s about people coming together in acts of kindness,” said Rodney Mondor, assistant director for Student Involvement and Greek Life.
Earlier in the month Mondor joined thousands in a five-day battle between the human soul and the environment in support of finding a vaccine to help end the struggle of men, women and children who have contracted the life-threatening HIV virus.
Returning to his Gorham office after the 400-mile bike trek from Montreal to Portland, Mondor was surprised by someone who didn’t think the AIDS ride was such a good thing.
He received a letter through inter-campus mail bearing only his name.
The author of the letter condemned Mondor and the cause he’s ridden thousands of miles for over the past five years.
“It said I’m living in the facade of the ride,” said Mondor. “That 90 percent of funds go to the producer, not the agency.”
The author of the letter didn’t leave any marks of identification. There was no return address. No name. And the letter was typed rather than hand-written.
Mondor dismissed the letter and went about his normal business.
But a week later another unmarked envelope found its way into his mailbox.
Inside was an article taken from the Internet about a disgruntled employee who had worked for the company that sponsors the AIDS Rides.
“The person would circle key phrases, to continue to make their point that they were right,” said Mondor.
Again there were no identifiable characteristics on the envelope or in the letter.
Mondor said he’s always willing to speak with somebody who has a gripe.
“If somebody gives me info I follow up to see how credible it is,” he said.
“Every year I struggle with the fact that a percentage of the money goes to pay for the ride [organization and not AIDS research]. But I look at the attention the ride gets. I’m able to use that to educate the community.”
But Mondor had no way to argue his point to the unknown letter sender. So early last week he posted a message to the USM community on the listserve.
“It was a crazy week with the attacks. The rides are all about kindness, that’s really who I am,” said Mondor. “I just didn’t want to have to deal with it anymore so I said please stop this. There was enough going on in the world.”
After he posted the message, Mondor said he got a lot of support from the USM community.
“People felt bad that it was happening,” said Mondor. “I love people.”
Following the message, Mondor hasn’t received any more anonymous letters. He said he’s trying to put it behind him.
“We all have our causes and there’s no hard feeling now that it’s stopped,” said Mondor.
“I just needed it to end and I figured that this (listserve) would get the message out.”
Contributing Writer Karl Hebert can be contacted