June 21, 2023

Arriving to jokes of coming straight off the road gritty and smelly, the 20-member Miracle Rider contingent returned to a heroes’ welcome on Friday, June 16. They were greeted by an Uptown Columbus crowd of family, friends, well-wishers and fans having logged more than 11,000 miles during their 26-day road trip, which began May 22.

Dubbed the “Four Corners Ride,” the riders’ course took them to the extreme four corners of the contiguous 48 U.S. states: the tip of Maine in the northeast, the tip of Washington state in the northwest, the Californian-Mexican border in the southwest, and Key West, Florida, in the southeast. They even stopped at popular destinations like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the 107th running of the Indy 500; the geographic center of North America in Rugby, North Dakota; the Cascade Mountain Range; and the Golden Gate Bridge.

And, they didn’t come home empty-handed.

“The money we’re raising is going to a great university,” Miracle Riders’ founder Scott Ressmeyer told the crowd. “[CSU’s nursing students] are the people who will take care of our future generations of kids in labor and delivery or pediatric units. The training they are getting and will be getting through [the support of the Miracle Riders to fund these labs] will benefit them, which will in turn will benefit our citizens right here in our community.”

That training will become even more sophisticated as Columbus State’s School of Nursing invests the $212,262.65 raised through this year’s ride in a new Labor and Delivery Simulation Lab. The lab will provide students with enhanced training to care for women laboring and delivering and their newborns. 

“[Our] story has always been about kids—and it continues to be about kids,” Ressmeyer said as the group departed CSU’s Frank Brown Hall on May 22. “[These labs] train our future nurses so when they go into a hospital setting, they will understand all that is going on and feel comfortable. They’ll be able to say, ‘I’ve done this.’”

The Miracle Riders have already announced the L&D Simulation Lab will be named for Dr. Cecil F. Whitaker Jr., a longtime area obstetrician and gynecologist now retired, in honor of his long-standing service to Columbus and for his contributions to ensuring the quality of area healthcare.

“We are so proud of our friends—our brothers—the Miracle Riders. We’re forever indebted to them,” said Dr. Rocky Kettering, CFRE, Columbus State’s vice president for university advancement, as he joined the College of Education & Heath Professions' interim dean, Dr. Margie Yates, for the check presentation (pictured above). “Great communities support each other through philanthropy, as the Miracle Riders are doing.”

Why we ride, Lyle Meeks and CSU Sim Lab

The proceeds of this year’s ride are the second major investment the organization has made in the school’s clinical nursing program. The Miracle Riders returned from their 2021 ride having raised more than $225,000 to establish a new pediatric simulation lab. The two rides bring the Miracle Riders near the halfway point of their $1 million, multi-year fundraising pledge to the university’s nursing program.

“I can’t thank the folks at Columbus State enough for believing in us,” Ressmeyer said the group’s fundraising goal. “There’s no doubt in my mind that we will obtain that goal sooner than later.”

Collectively, the riders have raised more than $2.3 million in charitable support over their 14 years of cross-country rides to benefit children’s healthcare causes.

Columbus State University's School of Nursing offers undergraduate- and graduate-level nursing programs, including a BSN program; an RN-BSN program with on-campus and online options; an MSN program with tracks for a Nurse Educator, Nurse Informaticist or Nurse Leader, as well as both on-campus and online options; and an FNP (Family Nurse Practitioner) MSN program with on-campus and online options. The School of Nursing has full approval from the Georgia Board of Nursing and is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).

For more information about the Miracle Riders or to contribute to this year’s fundraising effort, visit rideformiracles.com.

Media contacts:

• Michael Tullier, APR, Executive Director of Strategic Communication + Marketing, 706.507.8729, mtullier@columbusstate.edu
• Marion Scott, Miracle Riders, marion.scott120@gmail.com