A priest's bike ride to stop poverty made a put stop in Miami on Tuesday to share a little holy love and break bread with some Catholic school students.
Friar Matthew Ruhl and 12 other riders began a cross-country trek in Washington on Memorial Day and will end it in Key West on Labor Day 5,000 miles later.
The ride is Ruhl's way of bringing awareness to the depths of poverty across the country. All he needs to do is take a ride in downtown Miami to see just how bad it has become.
"A little angel came to me one day while I was riding my bike and said, 'You can do this. You can make a difference,'" Ruhl said on why he was giving his legs a mega work out.
Ruhl, who runs a parish in Kansas City, hopes his ride will help Catholic Charities USA's ambition efforts to reduce poverty by 50 percent in just ten years.
Ruhl and his riders made it to Miami at the Centro Hispano Catolico Child Care Center around 12:30 p.m., a little off schedule and hungry. The kids at the center surprised the group with a song that brought tears to one of the cyclist's eyes.
After all, who doesn't cry when a group of toddlers sing "We Are the World?"
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Many of the riders have left behind jobs, family and their own children to embark on the journey to end poverty. Ruhl said although the ride ends this weekend, that journey to cut down poverty will continue.
