Cowboy on ride of his life

Helen Afrasiabi

Thursday, Dec. 23, 2004 | 1:55 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

December 24 - 26, 2004

Reach Cowboys Helping Kids at www.cowboyshelpingkids.com or 501-4243.

If you ask Richard Fipps how he makes a living, he'll tell you that he "messes with horses," his understated way of describing his duties as a cowboy.

Fipps, whose family made a living on ranching, continues the tradition and breaks, shoes, trades and sells horses. His involvement with horses, however, doesn't end with the workweek.

The idea that became the driving force behind his nonprofit organization, Cowboys Helping Kids, began in January 2002 as a bet.

Fipps, 36, was challenged to ride his horse from Alabama (where he lived at the time) to Utah by a lifelong friend who didn't believe he could pull it off. But Fipps was soon preparing to make the trip that would prove skeptics wrong.

One evening while making preparations, Fipps watched Suzanne Somers on television as she advocated sponsorship of needy children in Indonesia. He then realized what he had been trying to figure out from the time he began trip preparations: a purpose for the sponsorship he needed to make the journey.

"It sort of bothered me to think that I've never seen anyone campaigning for kids in our own country," Fipps said during a recent interview at his home in North Las Vegas.

Fipps asked that people sponsor his first ride, Riding for the Children, so he could put that money to use feeding and clothing needy women and children along the route.

Money from sponsors was initially allocated to orphanages, but Fipps realized there was also a need among battered women and children's shelters.

"I got involved with just the kids, and realized there's an awful lot of battered women and children's shelters out there where they had a lot of problems," he said. "So I did it for just cause on both behalves."

To say that Fipps won the bet is an understatement. He traveled 1,903 miles in 91 days from April 26 to July 26, 2002, setting world records recognized by the Horsemen's Association of the United States and American Cattlemen's Association for time and distance on horseback. And, he rounded up more than $1 million for his cause.

Fipps' rides involve starting out each morning on horseback, riding whatever distance possible for the course of the day and setting up camp once he is through with that day's ride.

At various points during his ride in 2002 he had between 10 and 600 people riding with him. Cowboys, he said, are the tightest clan of people you'll ever meet if it's for a cause involving "God, country and children."

His sponsors come from all walks of life, donating anywhere from $1 to $15,000.

Fipps has since elevated his cause, which he simply states is to "bring public awareness that there are kids in our own country going hungry," into a second occupation: Cowboys Helping Kids, which puts emphasis on needy children in the United States.

Fipps and his nonprofit organization conduct cross-country rides on horseback, collecting clothing and nonperishable goods to distribute in towns along the way where immediate need exists. The next ride is scheduled to start April 26 in Mexicali, Mexico, and end in Calgary, Alberta.

Fipps says it is a unique way to raise awareness, and a method that isn't seen every day.

"Drive across the country in a car?" Fipps said. "Why would I want to do that to bring public awareness? What is so unique about driving across the country?"

It doesn't hurt that his way of raising money feeds the country's fascination with the legendary cultural icon -- the American cowboy.

Fipps says he has been amazed by the various responses and reactions from people along the way, who he said have been both uplifting and discouraging at times.

"For 91 nights I sat on open range and I came across a lot of things during that ride, and I think that ride taught me a lot, not only about myself, but about people in the United States," Fipps said.

The most recent journey presented obstacles beyond physical and mental fatigue. The greatest challenge Fipps faces, he says, is from people's unwillingness to give financially or of their time, what he calls "the stinginess of people."

"People are stingy ... they're stingy, as in they're private people -- they don't want to get out and mingle anymore," he said. "Back in the '50s, if somebody's kids down the road were going hungry, and they knew it, somebody would go down there and bring them canned food or groceries to help them."

Fipps encourages people to give to any cause.

"Hey, people don't have to give to my cause," he said. "They can go to an orphanage or children's home here and donate, they can donate through their church, they can donate to a church even if they don't go to church."

Fipps says his efforts have brought increased awareness for needy women and children, and he speaks highly of individuals whose generosity has left a lasting impression on him.

On his first trip, Fipps encountered one such individual while traversing the Mississippi Flats. Described as someone more fit to receive help than give it, the man approached Fipps to say that although he "didn't have but $5," he wanted to donate it to Riding for the Children "so that somebody else may have something."

"That rocked my socks ... I still think about it every once in a while, that man walking up to me with the last $5 in his pocket," Fipps said. "It was an ironic thing to me."

He is in the planning stages of his next ride, making preparations that include gathering financial sponsorship. He aims to beat his record by riding 2,400 miles in less than 100 days.

Fipps is determined to make it happen, despite the difficulty involved.

Obstacles include horses going lame, the necessary vet checks each time state lines are crossed to determine if the horses are healthy enough to cross into the next state, the danger of coyotes and mountain lions while he is sleeping in the open and the pain and fatigue resulting from many sleepless nights.

The hard work and inconvenience are worth it because it's for a good cause, Fipps says.

"You know, if I was working 40 hours a week on a regular job, knowing I was helping kids, I would do it without a problem in the world," Fipps said. "But if I wind up working 40 hours a week just to pay bills, year in and year out, not having the accomplishment outside of my own job and not being able to touch somebody else -- it would be a dull life.

"All the good intentions that I have in my heart, I did accomplish it one time before in the past, and I can accomplish it again. But I've got to have the help, I've got to have the support and sponsorship."

He identifies one of his biggest supporters thus far as "the love of his life" -- his girlfriend, Crystal Dee Betkowski.

"I couldn't do this without her and her support. She is my backbone. Without her help in this, there is no way ... when I get discouraged and say, 'The heck with it and don't want to do it,' she pushes me," Fipps said. "If it wasn't for her encouragement and her support, I probably wouldn't even think about it."

Fipps' determination is driven by the belief that America is one of the richest countries in the world and there is no justification for any child in this country to go hungry. He says his covenant with God provides constant guidance and motivation to work on the problem.

Evidence of Fipps' devotion is proudly displayed on his rodeo jacket, which bears the phrase, "This cowboy is sponsored by the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost," where others' are commonly adorned with sponsors' logos.

"It's the American cowboy way," Fipps says.