Our Story

Around the same time, Jodie and I were starting our discussions about family, kids, adoption, etc. In that process, I became more conscious of organizations helping kids and developed a particular appreciation for organizations trying to ease the suffering of kids with medical conditions, especially children’s hospitals. I’ve also been passionate about the environment since I was a little kid. With that I thought about launching Texas500 as a big personal challenge and as a way to give back by fundraising for certain causes. I would like the fundraising piece to be a challenge as well; thus setting an aggressive goal that seems far away and unachievable by myself. This would also push me to go outside of “me only” and make this event something for several to participate and support. I envision this to be an event for everyone to get involved and own it too as they share passion for the causes. I am already seeing three challenges: a bike/run from Dallas to Austin and back, the fundraising goals (raising$75K for Children’s Hospitals), and the outreach/selling to others (outside my comfort zone).
Fast-forward 10 years, after moving to Virginia, changing jobs, living with Jodie’s parents (thanks Grandma and Grandpa!) for 10 months, three kids (including Jodie and all three kids living in Africa for ~16 months), COVID, etc,  it seems the time is right to put the idea on paper and execute it. Additionally, I am turning 50 years old in 2022 so it seems like a good time to set this goal for myself.

In November 2020, [about 18 months before the date I want the event to take place (~April 26 – ~ May 6 2022, overall dates, with the event itself comprised of 7 days, finishing around May 5th – Plan A, thanks Vishal!)], I talked to Jodie about it and got her encouragement and support to move forward. For a while then I thought about reaching out to others that I think would be supportive and excited to embrace it. I had the honor to go to Dallas at the end of April 2021 to be part of Arnav’s Upanayana Sanskar ceremony (thanks Sangita and Prem for the honor!!). I thought that was the time to reach out and gather the Team as well as to announce my intentions (make it public so there is an accountability factor that would push me to move forward). Vishal Patel graciously agreed to meet with me in a very short notice…(sorry Vishal 😊 ) and even more graciously accepted to support the effort (in addition to giving me some valuable lessons about life, raising great kids, and leaving a legacy…all of this over our last-minute lunch). Vishal will lead training and route definition. I had a chance to talk to Sangita on the next day, after Arnav’s ceremony. It was nice that Jodie had briefly talked to Sangita about it already and she had already embraced the idea before I started talking (she was trying to even find donors/volunteers among the guest that came to Arnav’s ceremony 😊). Sangita will lead operations with fundraising, social media & communications, and outreach/connecting with Children’s Hospital in Dallas. Sangita’ s son Arnav (who I consider my nephew) is a recipient of wonderful treatment that the Heart center at Children’s hospital provides. Arnav inherited a genetic condition from his father which needs care from the Children’s Hospital Heart Center. She contacted Children’s Hospital and the team further helped her connect with St Jude. Subsequently, Sangita also made the connection with the Children’s Hospital in Richmond, VA and they quickly got on board as well. Once we started talking with the recipient agencies, we quickly found that we needed someone on the team with knowledge of web technologies. The first name that came to me was Arvind Raman, Jodie and my close friend and roommate from my University of Texas Austin days. Arvind has a passion for social causes and brings heart to everything he does, so we are so happy he joined our team.