ESTAblished in 2013

jacob's story

Jacob’s Ride began in the winter of 2012 as just an idea tossed around in a father-son conversation on a front porch. Since then, we have been raising money in order to give one of the most precious gifts of all - the gift of hearing. That winter, Jacob decided to combine his three passions—baseball, cycling, and helping the hearing impaired—by riding to all thirty U.S. Major League baseball stadiums to raise money for those who can benefit from cochlear implants but cannot afford it. On April 3, 2013, Jacob left the comforts of home and embarked on a nearly 11,000-mile bicycle ride to those stadiums. Jacob's Ride was officially underway.

In that exhilarating first year, Jacob’s Ride raised sufficient funds to help implant ten individuals. We partnered with many organizations for support and for fundraising opportunities. The Gift of Hearing Foundation received the vast majority of our net proceeds, because our organizations shared the exact same mission - to give the gift of hearing to individuals who could not afford one. Indeed, our charity received crucial coaching, support, and guidance from the Gift of Hearing’s founder and president, Eileen Jones. Over the next 4 years, Jacob’s Ride continued to pass along donations to the organization and made another four “miracles” happen.  

In October of 2017, Mrs. Jones and the Gift of Hearing Foundation’s Board of Directors made the difficult decision to close down their amazing operation.  Their decision was made easier because Jacob’s Ride was willing to step-in to fill their niche and because we had demonstrated five years of successful fundraising.

So although Jacob might not be riding his bicycle across the country today, his mission is unchanged. Not only is Jacob’s Ride raising money for cochlear implant surgeries as we always have been, we are now directly involved in the process of securing devices and negotiating with hospitals.