Technical Issues
World T.E.A.M. recommends using Microsoft Edge, Safari and Firefox when visiting the Face of America Gettysburg website. Chrome can also be used, but it is not recommended as user plugin programs may create issues. Using older browsers, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, are not recommended. It is also recommended to reach the site using newer operating systems, such as Windows 10 or the latest version of Android and Mac OS.
Returning athletes and volunteers from previous Face of America Liberty programs do not need to create a new user account.
If you already created an account for this year’s program and forgot your password, you may request a password reset through our Login page.
Athletes and volunteers who register for Face of America Liberty are automatically added to our program email distribution list. If you have not been receiving regular emailed communication from World T.E.A.M. regarding the program, you may need to white list our domain – worldteamsports.org – in your email service so mail is delivered. In many instances, mail may be delivered, but end up in your spam folder (this is particularly true for major free services such as Gmail or Yahoo). Please review your spam filter to see if the emails are waiting – if they are, identify as “not spam” and move to your in-box. You may also need to white list the address. If you are a returning athlete or volunteer, it is also possible that you may have at some point in the past opted out of incoming emails from our email service. If this is the case, you may opt back into the active list.
Registration
World T.E.A.M. encourages individual athletes to join teams to participate in Face of America Liberty. Athletes are not required to do so, however, and may register as individual riders.
Participant categories in the Face of America Liberty registration system have predetermined limits according to the maximum riders allowed through our organization’s ride permits. If a particular category is missing, that means it has reached capacity. For some categories, waiting lists of interested athletes may be established. Athletes on our waiting lists will be notified directly by World T.E.A.M. by email message if an opening becomes available. To add your name to the World T.E.A.M. Adaptive Athlete waiting list, submit an email letter of interest. We’ll contact interested athletes as positions become available.
Our Face of America Gettysburg registration and fundraising site uses coding cookies to remember previous visitors, so if you discover you are running into difficulties in registering online (or are having problems in donating to a rider), try clearing your Internet browser memory and cache. In most browsers, you can clear the history through the browser’s “Tools” or “Options” tab. Alternately, if you have more than one browser available on your computer, try using your alternate browser. This often happens when two or more participants use a single computer to register.
Travel
If you are an athlete making your own air transportation arrangements to New York for Face of America Liberty, you should select a return flight home that leaves your designated airport no earlier than 8 p.m.
The return bus to the host hotel leaves at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 8.
With additional time suggested for TSA screening at the airport, any flight scheduled prior to an 8 p.m. departure may be difficult or even impossible to make. Avoid air transportation stress by scheduling a later flight.
Adaptive athletes from outside the greater New York region may be eligible for need based transportation assistance grants from World T.E.A.M. Funding is limited. Please review our adaptive athletes page for more information. Grants for travel assistance are sent following the conclusion of the event and will not exceed the preapproved grant amount.
Lodging
Owing to room availability, participants should make their lodging reservations as soon as possible for the best selection.
World T.E.A.M. covers the costs of lodging for registered adaptive athlete participants for Friday evening (important note: the participant must cover their own incidental costs, such as room service, etc.). Registered adaptive athletes also receive meals at no cost, a bicycle or hand cycle rental if needed. Adaptive athletes may receive transportation assistance, including gas reimbursement for private vehicle travel or air transportation, if from outside the New York area.
Meals
Riding at Face of America Liberty doesn’t mean you have to go hungry, or stop at convenience stores along the way. During the ride, rest stops about every ten miles offer riders water and sports drinks to replenish bottles, as well as quick energy snack foods such as fruit. At the Saturday afternoon finish dinner at West Point, food and beer are offered to all participating athletes and invited volunteers to complete the day.
Meals for Face of America Liberty are limited to registered participants and to registered caregivers for participating adaptive athletes. If you have a friend or family member who would like to enjoy a meal, additional meal tickets may be purchased from our Face of America Liberty online store prior to the reservation deadline.
Participant Check-In
Participants who cannot attend the Friday afternoon check-in can do so early Saturday morning from 6:15 to 7:00 at the start line, prior to the ride start.
The Ride
Standard road bike gear is recommended for Face of America Liberty participants. This includes a required bicycling helmet, a pair of cycling shorts, cycling gloves and cycling shoes.
It is always a good idea to have some sort of cycling rain coat or shell in case of rain (some riders will also bring a light vest or jacket for early morning riding when it is cool). Sunglasses and sun screen are a must if it is sunny.
Be certain to bring with you a current photo identification card for entry into West Point Military Academy.
Face of America Liberty is a fully-supported cycling challenge. This means that free SAG wagons – passenger vans with trailers – travel with the athletes from Sleepy Hollow to West Point. If you get tired, or if your bike has a flat or unexpected mechanical problem, pull off to the side of the road and wait for a ride marshal. The marshal will flag down a SAG wagon – the driver or assistant will help you load your bike onto the trailer and you can ride as a passenger to the next rest stop.
The Maps section of our Face of America Liberty route page includes GPS data file for downloading. Note that these maps and the file will represent the route as permitted with local agencies. There may be last-minute adjustments to the routes depending on local conditions and construction.
Many able-bodied riders have never participated in a bicycle ride with participants on recumbent bikes and hand cycles. You’ll find that many of the adaptive riders with disabilities are exceptionally fit and can keep up with the able-bodied riders. Keep in mind, though, that many of the riders on hand cycles will slow while climbing hills. And, on long descents, they’ll ride at very high speeds. To avoid any accidents or unpleasant moments during the ride, always keep to the right, allowing faster riders to pass safely. Listen for commands from riders and from bike marshals. While the Face of America is on a controlled course with bike marshals and moto escorts, remember you still are riding on open public roads. Be aware of your surroundings – watch for drivers pulling unexpectedly into the ride or trying to pass. And, watch for the safety of your companion riders. Sometimes, deep in conversation, riders will not notice a potentially dangerous situation – let them know.
Face of America Liberty is all about teamwork and cooperation, and many of the participating athletes with disabilities welcome assistance in climbing the steeper hills. Please ask first, though, as some participants prefer to climb hills on their own (some will even post “do not help” signs on their hand cycles!).
All participating riders are alerted by ride marshals of important information in emergencies – please follow the directions of the marshals, who are watching for your safety. If you are involved in a riding accident, or witness an accident, alert a ride marshal immediately for timely assistance.
Owing to our insurance policy and permitting regulations, we require each person who is riding a bicycle, hand cycle or recumbent bike in Face of America Liberty register as a ride participant. Persons driving private vehicles must not follow the athletes, or drive within the group, as our local and state ride permits are specific as to the number of authorized vehicles in the caravan. If you are driving, use an alternate route to reach rest areas, lunch stops, and hotels (you’ll find alternate routes will allow you to reach these locations quickly, without the traffic congestion and backups that occur along the ride route).
Fundraising
Incoming donations, grants, and sponsor support for Face of America Liberty primarily covers the program costs. This includes costs such as permitting, meals, rider jerseys, SAG vans, rest stops, etc. In addition, Face of America is the largest fundraiser to support World TEAM operations throughout the year.
World T.E.A.M. is a federally-recognized 501(c)3 not-for-profit entity based in Boston, Massachusetts and incorporated in North Carolina. Detailed financial information about the organization, including IRS Form 990s, recent audited financial statement, and annual reviews can be found on our organization’s financial page. In 2020, 93 cents of every incoming dollar went directly toward supporting our sporting programs and our participating athletes.
Participants who receive checks from donors in support of their fundraising should package and mail these to World T.E.A.M.’s finance office in Holbrook, New York. Please include a note as to which fundraising account should be credited. All checks must be received no later than April 11 to be added before the deadline. Our mailing address for donations is:
World T.E.A.M.
Face of America
4250 Veterans Memorial Hwy, Ste 420E
Holbrook NY 11741-4020
Please note that checks are processed by our finance office in batches, and only twice weekly. So, please allow up to three weeks for processing and adding to your online fundraising page. Once the checks are entered, and are posted, you will receive an automated email listing the donation. Donors receive emailed acknowledgements only when they include an email address with their donation. Our non-profit organization mails acknowledgement letters for our larger donations, usually $250 or more.
Optionally, you may enter your checks as pledges on your fundraising site prior to mailing. Here is the procedure to enter your pledged checks:
- Log into your personal fundraising center.
- On your Overview tab, you’ll find a red box “Enter Gifts” in the lower left corner. Click on this.
- On the pledge page, select your donation pledge (if not one of the set amounts, type in the amount in the box).
- In the method of payment, click on the drop-down menu to the right and select “Check.”
- Enter the check number.
- If the donor wants to be on your Honor Roll, type in the name and click the box if you want to show the amount.
- Add the personal information where indicated. The fields with asterisks are required; if you want an acknowledgement to be sent at the time of the donation processing, enter the email. The full address should be entered for larger donations of $250 or more, as we will mail printed acknowledgement letters to donors.
- Click on the green submit button in the lower right.
Many larger businesses offer employees matching funds for charitable causes. If your company is one that offers matching funds, you will need to first work with your human resources office to arrange for the corporate donation. Often, the company or their corporate giving partner will contact World T.E.A.M. to inquire if a donation has been made and to confirm the dollar amount. Once we have confirmed, the matching donation will be mailed to us within a month or just a few weeks. We can credit your account once the donation has been received, but you should continue to monitor. Check our donation page for a matching gift search engine with more details of companies that match.
Facebook makes it easy to raise funds for nonprofit organizations by offering a convenient donate button you can include in posts.
Please note donations are not made to World T.E.A.M. but to Facebook’s non-profit owned for profit corporation, Network for Good. Donations are processed by Network for Good and transferred to World T.E.A.M. following the 15th of each month. This means it may take a few weeks for the donation to arrive.
To receive credit for your personal fundraising account, you need to submit by email a complete listing of the donations and the dates of the donations, including the donor name (and address if available). If you are participating in more than one World T.E.A.M. program, you also will need to designate to which program the donations is to be applied.
Miscellaneous
World T.E.A.M.‘s rental bike coordinator will contact all registered adaptive athletes by email message to determine if a rental is needed. An online reservation form will allow the athlete to reserve a specific type of bike – this form must be completed by the posted early April deadline. The coordinator will review submissions through this reservation site, and will make arrangements for an appropriate bike rental. Athletes should bring their own bicycle helmet, though we have a limited number of helmets available that can be borrowed for the weekend.
If you are a registered, active participant and find that you are unable to start the ride on Saturday owing to injury or other reasons, you will be directed to ride in our SAG or other vehicles to that day’s ride conclusion.
For all participants, if you find you are unable attend Face of America Liberty, notify World T.E.A.M. as soon as possible by email message. You may change your registration to our virtual participant category if you want to remain active in the event, useful if you are a member of a team. Registration fees and donations are not refundable. Withdrawals following October 21, 2022 will result in a charge to the credit account provided at registration to meet your fundraising commitment.
For our adaptive athletes and caregivers, if you have already received a transportation or lodging confirmation from our coordinators, you may be liable for the full reservation(s) cost if your cancellation is not owing to official military orders or a medical emergency. Include a full explanation and any accompanying documentation (such as a doctor’s statement on the physician’s letterhead) with your email notification to avoid a charge to your provided credit account.
World T.E.A.M. greatly appreciates our new and returning volunteers! Individuals who have an interest in volunteering for Face of America Liberty should first register online. During the registration process, volunteer candidates can indicate the days they are available, their interests and their volunteer background. Our volunteer committee will review all interested candidates and look for a match for days and interests. If you match one of the available opportunities, you will be contacted directly by the appropriate committee coordinator. All confirmed volunteers will receive a volunteer tee-shirt, and may qualify for selected meals and lodging. Check with your volunteer coordinator to see what you receive for your assistance.
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