My Mental Health Drive Across 65 Lyft Cities for Charity
[Update – Now that the road trip is done, check out my actual route, trip logs and time lapse videos in this summary post!]
I have been thinking for the last year on how to give back to charity by leveraging this website’s readership and through Lyft. There have been many various charities that have partnered with Lyft or have leveraged Lyft’s community outreach. I was particularly inspired by Lyfting America (Jane LeBoeuf) and how she drove across the country twice in promotion of Lyft. I plan on doing something similar, but on a larger scale.
My plan is to drive through all Lyft cities in the lower 48 states and give at least one Lyft in each city. The only cities I cannot perform a Lyft in is in NY where I would need TLC plates. I also forgot that Lyft also operates in Hawaii, and it would be a tough journey to be able to drive on Lyft in Hawaii with my own car.
I chose to support mental health organizations because my wife sees so many mental health patients as a primary care physician at her hospital day in and day out and she sees the impact it has on their families and the community. However, there is less funding that go towards these issues every year. This issue has been made worst by the government funneling more money into prisons and out of mental health hospitals.
Here are some details about the charity drive:
- I will be donating $1 per mile driven in each state to a non-profit mental health organization in that state.
- The route is about 12000 miles and it’ll take me a long time.
- Every Lyft fare I pick up will also go towards charity and encourage my passengers to give back by tipping.
- I will be posting on my Facebook Page with some live video of the drive at various points of the drive. I will try to capture some video everyday but there seems to be some solid days of driving in the middle of nowhere.
How Can You Help?
I have set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise additional money for charity. It will be running for the next few months. Below is the link to the campaign:
GoFundMe Rideshare Dashboard Mental Health Drive
Even a dollar will go a long way so give what you can and it will be deeply appreciated!
You can also help by emailing ridesharedashboard at gmail.com with travel advice, what to see in each of the below cities and your best food recommendations. I have travelled extensively abroad, but I will be visiting many of these states for the first time.
Route Details
I will be starting the drive next week. My plan is to drive to Burlington to start my trip Tuesday night. I am also arranging my move from Boston to Seattle this weekend so timing may change.
The route length is 12000 miles, so it will take me hopefully 20 days (600 miles a day with stops in various cities).
Here is a map of the trip. Luckily, I found a website called My Route Online that helped me optimize my route.
Here is the list of cities I will be visiting in order:
| Stop | Address |
| 1 | Boston, MA, USA |
| 2 | Barnstable, MA, USA |
| 3 | Providence, RI, USA |
| 4 | Hoboken, NJ, USA |
| 5 | Philadelphia, PA, USA |
| 6 | Baltimore, MD, USA |
| 7 | Washington, DC, USA |
| 8 | Virginia Beach, VA, USA |
| 9 | Durham, NC, USA |
| 10 | Charlotte, NC, USA |
| 11 | Savannah, GA, USA |
| 12 | Jacksonville, FL, USA |
| 13 | Orlando, FL, USA |
| 14 | Miami, FL, USA |
| 15 | Tampa, FL, USA |
| 16 | Atlanta, GA, USA |
| 17 | Lexington, KY, USA |
| 18 | Cincinnati, OH, USA |
| 19 | Columbus, OH, USA |
| 20 | Pittsburgh, PA, USA |
| 21 | Cleveland, OH, USA |
| 22 | Toledo, OH, USA |
| 23 | Detroit, MI, USA |
| 24 | Ann Arbor, MI, USA |
| 25 | Lafayette, IN, USA |
| 26 | Indianapolis, IN, USA |
| 27 | Louisville, KY, USA |
| 28 | Nashville, TN, USA |
| 29 | Memphis, TN, USA |
| 30 | New Orleans, LA, USA |
| 31 | San Antonio, TX, USA |
| 32 | Dallas, TX, USA |
| 33 | Oklahoma City, OK, USA |
| 34 | Tulsa, OK, USA |
| 35 | Chicago, IL, USA |
| 36 | Milwaukee, WI, USA |
| 37 | Madison, WI, USA |
| 38 | Minneapolis, MN, USA |
| 39 | Omaha, NE, USA |
| 40 | Lincoln, NE, USA |
| 41 | Denver, CO, USA |
| 42 | Colorado Springs, CO, USA |
| 43 | Salt Lake City, UT, USA |
| 44 | Las Vegas, NV 89119, USA |
| 45 | Phoenix, AZ, USA |
| 46 | Tucson, AZ, USA |
| 47 | San Diego, CA, USA |
| 48 | Corona, CA, USA |
| 49 | Orange County, CA, USA |
| 50 | Los Angeles, CA, USA |
| 51 | Santa Barbara, CA, USA |
| 52 | Bakersfield, CA, USA |
| 53 | Fresno, CA, USA |
| 54 | Modesto, CA, USA |
| 55 | Stockton, CA, USA |
| 56 | San Jose, CA, USA |
| 57 | Cupertino, CA, USA |
| 58 | San Francisco, CA, USA |
| 59 | Napa Valley, CA, USA |
| 60 | Sacramento, CA, USA |
| 61 | Lake Tahoe City, CA 96145, USA |
| 62 | Reno, NV, USA |
| 63 | Portland, OR, USA |
| 64 | Seattle, WA, USA |
| 65 | Spokane, WA, USA |
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