GrandpasCan 2023

Dear Friend of Mully Children's Family

It’s me again. The old guy on a bike. For those of you who know me, even if only through my cycling fundraising platforms and annual 'ask' letters, know that I wear my emotions on my sleeve. My name is Arvid Loewen. I refuse to accept the common notion that the little bit I can do does not matter in the big picture. Over the years hundreds of you have embraced that same 'Can Do' attitude, and together we have rescued, fed, housed, educated, and equipped thousands of children at Mully Children's Family. Thank you! When Canadians pull together, children's hunger pains become a distant memory and are replaced by HOPE acquired through education.

Children thankful for the opportunity to learn

The goal of GrandpasCan 2023 is to provide 1 MILLION meals.

MCF cares for over 6,500 children at their 11 locations. Seventy of the most impoverished community schools located around these MCF campuses also receive bulk food rations from MCF. That means at times such as during high inflation, high unemployment rates, extreme drought, or for those living in perpetual extreme poverty, MCF feeds an extra 30,000 children on a daily basis. Just let that sink in for a minute. Mully Children's Family believes that the best way to offer HOPE to a child who lives in perpetual poverty is through education. When a child goes to bed hungry, wakes up hungry, with no food available anywhere, attending school is the furthest thing from their mind. They will spend the whole day foraging through a garbage dump, sifting through restaurant throw-aways, lingering in markets or streets.

Children rummaging through garbage to look for things to eat/sell

Lining up to receive an MCF-supplied meal at a community school

For some of these kids, this is their ONLY meal of the day

These slum schools have reported that when MCF provides one meal per day to these community children, attendance jumps from 45% to 80%. For most kids, this is the only meal of the day. MCF uses 'General Funds' to buy these bulk food rations and desperately needs our help. Fifty cents Canadian pays for 1 meal.

This is also a great way for the MCF pastors, counselors, and teachers to mentor the staff and students in these community schools and to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them.

If you want your donation dollars to make a real difference and go a long way, this is the MCF ministry initiative to support.

GrandpasCan 2023

This is a first in the world for ultra-marathon cycling.

Starting on July 4, 2023, three (3) ultra-marathon cycling Guinness World Record Holders are going head-to head to see who can ride the farthest. The rules are simple. You ride until you have been off the bike for an individual cumulative total of 60 minutes (basically bathroom breaks). Last year I tested this approach and I lasted 31 hours and rode 725 km. The event will happen at Birds Hill Park in Manitoba, Canada. The park has an 11 km loop with a wide shoulder and low traffic volume.

The participating cyclists are:

1. Reid Anderton (Australia) - present GWR holder for cycling 14,178 km around Australia in 37 days, 1 hour, and 18 min. Raises funds for Eagles Wings. https://ew.org.au/about-us

2. Andrew Hellinga (Australia) - present GWR holder for cycling 337 km in 24 hours, facing backwards. He is a friend of Reid's and a very strong ultra-cyclist as well. Raises funds for Eagles Wings. https://ew.org.au/about-us

3. Arvid Loewen (Canada) - present GWR holder for farthest distance cycled in one (1) month (30 days) 11,619 km, and former Guinness World Record holder for crossing Canada in 13 days, 6 hours, and 13 min. Raises funds for Mully Children’s Family. https://www.mullychildrensfamily.org Arvid rides under GrandpasCan.com and uses his public facebook page for updates (Arvid Loewen, Cycling Philanthropist).

Just to be clear, 100% of your donation goes to MCF Canada. Reid and Andrew raise money from their donor base in Australia for Eagles Wings, located in Zambia. I am very grateful to them for accepting my invitation to come to Winnipeg and help me create the first ever, The Ultimate Showdown: 3 GWR Holders Pedaling for a Purpose. It does not get any more real.

The 2 GWR holders I am competing with are approximately one and two decades younger than I am. They are in their prime — me, not so much. I will need all the motivation I can find to not be blown out of the park by them. Feeding a starving child is the motivation I respond to best. No matter who cycles the most kilometres, the children in Kenya and Zambia will be the real winners.

$500,000 = 1 Million Meals

For 19 years and some 350,000 km on my bike, offering HOPE to a child has been my sole motivation. This July's '3 GWR Holder Showdown' is no different.

I am inviting Canadians to 'pull together' to help Charles and Esther Mulli fill dozens of trucks with food for the children attending impoverished community schools around the MCF centers.

1. Make cheque payable to: Mully Children’s Family Canada, Memo Line: GrandpasCan

Send to:
Mully Children’s Family Canada, PO Box 35027,
RPO Henderson, Winnipeg, MB, R2K 4J9

2. Or make a secure donation here:

Please enter an amount and click donate to start your donation.

After entering your credit card and address information on the second page DO NOT check the "Save this information for next time" button unless you want to sign up for a PayPal account. Sorry, we can't change this yet!

Donations can also be made via e-transfer to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Please also send an email with your name and a physical address. This is required by CRA for the tax receipt. We email the tax receipt to you unless you indicate you prefer a paper copy.

3. Or a per-km pledge option. As I write this letter, I have a total of $150/km pledged from 30 people. My goal is to reach $200/km. If this approach to helping works for you, please:

a. Email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your per km pledge, OR

b. Text me with your per km pledge at 204-996-8758. Please include your name.

I would appreciate receiving your pledge/km by July 3rd.

Every meal served contains the HOPE that the perpetual cycle of poverty these children were born into will indeed be broken through education.

Blessings,
Arvid

18 years ago, during Spoke 2005 the Canadian Safari, the sobering truth found in this poem became deeply ingrained in my heart and soul. Paul, Lydia, and Mumina rotated on the passenger seat of my modified tandem bike. Most days lasted 15 hours on the bike, and ended with an evening presentation. The program often included a recitation of this poem.

A Street Child I was
I had no place to call my home
I had no mother to call my own
No one to care if I lived or died
A street child I was.

You say I am unclean and unkempt
Not fit to be seen
You say I am wicked and wild
With a look so mean

But I have to fight just to stay alive
I have got to be tough if I want to survive
I soak to the skin in the monsoon rain
I sleep when I can on roads and deserted dark streets

I ate throwaways from the roadside hotels
Or I am forced to dig in the garbage bins
Policeman hunted me cruel sticks
Harsh words, harsh blows and careless kicks

On bus stops, stations, markets, streets
You see me everywhere
But you really see me only
When you begin to care

Yes, I had no place to call my home
I had no mother to call my own
No one to care if I lived or died
A street child I was

My precious cargo across Canada in 2005

Lydia, Paul, and Mumina during one of their evening presentations

Our crew in Ottawa on the way to Halifax

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? James 2:14 17

By the time we reached Halifax 30 days later, I knew what God called me to. To say to the street children in this poem, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but then do nothing about their physical needs seemed wrong.

My invitation to you today is to help my wife Ruth and I help Charles & Esther Mulli provide 1 million meals.

Please enter an amount and click donate to start your donation.

Donations can also be made via e-transfer to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Please also send an email with your name and a physical address. This is required by CRA for the tax receipt. We email the tax receipt to you unless you indicate you prefer a paper copy.