Pequannock resident Derek DeRosa, a senior airman in the Air Force Reserves, is setting out on an courageous individual journey to raise money for military families.

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After he watched a documentary on the history of the Jersey Shore, DeRosa's brain began rattling with ideas of a way to honor the beautiful stretch of land down the coast. He wanted to pay homage to the land that only seems to get headlines from the the show on MTV. DeRosa also learned more about the Folds of Honor Foundation, which is run by fellow airman Major Dan Rooney, and gives back to families of servicemen that are killed or disabled in service.

The idea clicked from there.

"So many of my fellow airmen, soldiers, marines, coast guardsmen, and sailors have been affected by the recent wars, and even more so, their innocent families," Derosa explained.

He formulated "The Shore Tour," which is an individual, one-day bike ride, taking place this Saturday, down the entire Jersey coastline, from Sandy Hook to Cape May Point. DeRosa began training in May, and set up a social media fund-raising page to take in donations for Folds of Honor. He has been giving regular updates on his training, with pictures and miles cycled.

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DeRosa says he set out on this mission "in hopes of inspiring and encouraging others in the local community to support and raise awareness for our nation's heroes and their families."

As for the actual day?

DeRosa plans to be dropped off at Sandy Hook at 5AM to begin the ride down to Cape May, which he estimates will take north of fourteen hours. He plans to give regular updates on Twitter throughout the ride.

"If I have to crawl there I will because I really want to hit this goal of cycling the entire length of the shore."

While the goal is to make this ride an annual event, DeRosa decided to embark on the first one solo. So far, over one thousand dollars has been raised for Folds of Honor.

"I'm tremendously honored and grateful to know that so many kind and compassionate people would have helped support me on this journey," he said.

Check out Derek's fundraising page, as well as his Twitter feed, for regular updates before and during the Saturday ride.

 

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