Phil Keoghan Earns One Million Nonprofit Fundraising Dollars for MS and Releases Documentary

Fans of the popular CBS reality show The Amazing Race are probably happy that the show returned for its 20th season but it was what host Phil Keoghan accomplished on his own time that was truly amazing.

The season premier last week opened with a scene of the host and the contestants riding their bikes down a long road and that scene was probably due in part to Phil’s personal love of cycling. In 2009, Keoghan combined that love of cycling with nonprofit fundraising to help support the National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society in the United States.

image courtesy of life.time.com

Many may wonder why Keoghan became involved with the MS society and it all began in 2006 when he required “members of a training club he sponsors to enter the Southern California-Nevada Chapter’s Bike MS event. When organizers learned there was a star in their midst, they asked Phil to say a few words.” From then on he has been involved with the organization even becoming one of its ambassadors. He does have a personal connection to the disease as he has a cousin who suffers from MS in New Zealand.

Fast-forward to 2009 when Keoghan organized a bike ride to benefit MS that would start in Los Angeles and end in New York City. He even set a goal of covering the 3,500 miles in a mere forty days—an amazing feat in and of itself. Things were elevated when nutritional chain GNC offered to put donation stands in their locations across the United States with the hope of raising $250,000. By the end of the ride, the money collected through those donation stands was double that amount as they raised $500,000 for MS.

The Emmy Award winning host even made a documentary out of the cross-country bike ride benefiting the charity. Keoghan filmed the 45-day experience and “along the way, the Emmy winning TV star encounters hospitalization, exhaustion and a nerve-wracking crash.” The documentary titled “The Ride” was released in select theaters in 2011 and was then available for download online. The Ride is now showing on rotation on the small screen premiering on SHOWTIME February 18th, 2012.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMeqF5VxHaY[/youtube]

The documentary helped bring the grand total raised for MS to one million dollars, which far exceeded Keoghan’s expectations for the event. The Ride represents a multi-tiered fundraising project that combined a grassroots effort by MS Society with the endorsement and participation of a popular reality TV host willing to share his personal story and experiences throughout this touching journey for all of us to see. Keoghan is an inspiration because he was able to raise awareness and money for a cause that is dear to him and he pushed himself to the limit and showed his vulnerabilities to do it. Even though he loves cycling, this was a grueling challenge on many levels for him as the documentary depicts.

There is some sort of symmetry to bike riding being used to raise funds for a health-based cause as it has become such a symbol for healthy living, don’t you agree?

Look for repeat showings of this inspirational nonprofit fundraising journey in your television listings and enjoy The Ride.

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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.