A bicycle, $750, and 10,000 miles of passion

Paul Sanchez is literally a man on a mission.

Paul's mission, is to bring awareness and hope to children that are dealing with Dyslexia, as Paul does. So to accomplish this, Paul jumped on his bike, and hit the road.

Paul's journey on his bike is the focus of the documentary video you can play below. His journey covered over 10,000 miles, as Paul circled the perimeter of the country. Along the way, he stopped to meet 13 children with Dyslexia or learning differences, and even got to make an appearance on The Today Show, thanks to help from Katie Couric.

But now, Paul needs our help. He has several lofty goals that he wants to reach in his effort help children with Dyslexia, or his '8 wishes', which are:

1) Raise $1 million dollars
The million dollars will go into a fund earmarked to give 100 kids with dyslexia a $10,000 college scholarship. If they choose, up to $3,000 of that amount can be donated to dyslexia research.

2) 100 million views
Paul has the goal of 100 million views of the YouTube video below.

3) Be interviewed by Oprah
Paul states that: "Our dream would be to have one show dedicated to raising awareness of dyslexia and what these children can accomplish. Imagine a show that includes Paul Orfelea, Richard Branson, Charles Schawb, and the 13 children."

4) Interview Paul Orfelea
Paul has already accomplished this goal, and here's his interview with Mr. Orfelea.

5) Interview Sir. Richard Branson, who has dyslexia.

6) Interview Charles Schwab, who has dyslexia.

7) Be featured on 88 Websites/Blogs

8) All in 88 Days


Now, the deadline for Paul's 8 wishes is March 8th, 2007. Roughly a month away. Which doesn't leave us much time, but as anyone that got swept up in the Z-List meme knows, ideas can spread VERY quickly in the blogosphere! Just as the z-list had the very worthy goal of helping to raise awareness of deserving blogs, Paul's '8 wishes' are all very worthy goals, which I believe we can all do our part to help promote.

So here's what you can do to help:

1 - Watch the video below. It's from Paul and explains exactly what Paul's mission is, and Paul also lets you meet the children he met along the way.

2 - Link to Paul's website, 8 Wishes (which also helps Paul reach goal #7). If you don't have the time to write a separate post about Paul's mission, at least include a link in the 'Links of the Day' type posts that I see many of you leaving all the time.

3 - If you are a YouTube user, rate Paul's video here. The higher the rating, the more exposure, which makes all of Paul's goals more attainable.

4 - You can donate directly at the 8 Wishes blog. All money collected goes straight to the fund earmarked for the children.

Any of the above will only take a few minutes, but will help give Paul the additional exposure he needs to raise awareness for his journey, which will ultimately benefit children everywhere with dyslexia and learning differences. Not a bad way to spend a few minutes of your time, is it?


UPDATE: Another way you can help is by submitting Paul's story to Boing Boing.




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Paul Sanchez, 8 Wishes