Columbus State University News

Miracle Riders’ $172K cross-country fundraising ride continues to fuel nursing education

May 25, 2026

​An outdoor event featuring a large presentation check held up in the background. The check is made out to "CSU COLLEGE OF EDUCATION" from "The Miracle Ride" for the amount of "$172,907.06", dated "5/22/2026". The top left corner displays logos for Miracle Riders and the Columbus State University School of Nursing. In the foreground, several men wearing baseball caps and vests are looking on and clapping, while a woman in a red cap yells enthusiastically in the background on the right.

After three weeks on the road covering nearly 9,500 miles, the Miracle Riders returned to Columbus on Friday, May 22, after traveling through 17 states to raise awareness and funds for the Columbus State University College of Education & Health Professions.

The group of 14 riders arrived in downtown Columbus to cheers from university and community supporters. After greetings from Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson and remarks by CSU President Stuart Rayfield, the Miracle Riders presented a ceremonial check for $172,907—covering individual donations and business and corporate sponsorships. Supporting this year’s effort was a fully funded, anonymous challenge matching gift of $50,000 during the final week of the ride.

These funds will establish an endowment to maintain and upgrade the three School of Nursing simulation labs that the Miracle Riders have created since 2021, when they made a $1 million, multi-year fundraising commitment to the university. They fulfilled that pledge in 2025 after establishing three specialized clinical simulation labs to train Columbus State’s nursing students: a pediatric simulation lab, a mother-baby simulation lab, and a NICU simulation lab. The labs enable nursing students to develop their skills alongside practicing nurses, first responders, and others who provide direct medical care to infants, children, and expectant mothers.

A smiling woman in a red CSU cap speaks into a microphone next to a large presentation check from the Miracle Ride dated 5/22/2026 for $172,907.06.CSU President Stuart Rayfield addresses the crowd of Miracle Rider supporters upon their return to Columbus on May 22.

“This group of guys is the most amazing group of men that I’ve ever had a chance to spend time with,” Rayfield said. “We’re all so grateful and thankful for all the work you do. The sacrifices you make, and the sacrifices your families and loved ones make while you are gone for three weeks, are just so inspiring to each of us.

This year’s ride kept with last year’s Pony Express theme. Riders delivered personal greetings across the U.S. and regionally from family and friends, capturing the same spirit as the horseback messengers of the Old West.

Three people stand smiling for a photo together on an outdoor wooden restaurant deck or patio under string lights. On the left, a man wearing a brown "Pony Express Miracle Ride 2025" T-shirt, jeans, and a baseball cap stands next to a man in the center wearing glasses, a plaid button-down shirt, and jeans, who is holding open an award certificate folder. On the right, a woman with blonde hair wearing a white shirt and a black leather vest stands next to them. Buildings are visible in the background across the street.“One of the Miracle Riders’ stops included presenting a scholarship in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Columbus State Family Nurse Practitioner graduate student Matt McUmber (pictured, center, with Ressmeyer, left, and Rayfield, right). The scholarship was given in honor of Ressmeyer’s 67th birthday.

The Miracle Riders will continue accepting donations for the 2026 ride through June 30 via the Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley. Donations received after that date will be credited toward the 2027 ride.

About the Miracle Ride

The Miracle Ride began in 2009 when Scott Ressmeyer set out alone on a cross-country ride through the 48 contiguous states to celebrate his 50th birthday and raise funds for the Children’s Hospital at Midtown Medical Center in Columbus. Over the next six years, an additional 29 motorcyclists—each paying all their own cross-country trip expenses, averaging $5,000 per trip—joined the ride, raising $1.2 million for the hospital’s pediatric services.

Headshot of Scott Ressmeyer“These men have given of their time, reached into their own wallets and taken three weeks away from their families to go tell the story about the kids in our community—kids in high-risk nurseries, in pediatric hospitals, or future nursing students who are going to take care of our kids,” Ressmeyer (pictured) said of his fellow Miracle Riders. “They all do it for one reason—from the heart. And if you do something from the heart, you have impact.”

After meeting their initial goal, the riders broadened their fundraising efforts to include other local services for children. In 2015, they established the Miracle Ride Fund at the Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley and have since raised nearly $1.8 million for the fund. Since the inaugural ride in 2009, Scott and the riders have raised more than $3.3 million for children’s services.

For more information about the Miracle Riders, visit their website or follow them on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Media contacts: Columbus State University: Michael Tullier, APR; Miracle Riders: Marion Scott