Alex Insel from Voorhees and his best friend, Richard Rinaldi from Shamong, both 19, are going to be team Jersey Boys in the 2009 Mongol Rally, a 10,000-mile automobile trek that kicks off July 18 (adventurists.mongolrally.com/thejerseyboys).
For the past two summers, Insel and Rinaldi have been counselors at Camp Ockanickon in Medford. A fellow counselor, who completed the 2008 rally, planted the seed. “If you are a camp counselor, I believe you can do anything,” says Rinaldi.
The Jersey Boys have already raised $2,000 and hope to donate as much as they can to the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation (cncf.org), which assists children in Vietnam and Mongolia. They are seeking sponsors to cover their expenses—including the purchase of their car, which under rally rules most be a post-2000 sub-compact with a 1-liter engine or smaller.
The Mongol rally, organized by the League of Adventurists International, is said to be for people who think the “world is just a little bit too safe.” In the 2008 rally, 198 of 251 teams made it to the finish line. Insel and Rinaldi will map their own route for the tiny car, which they plan to pack with items like Ramen noodles, a portable stove, and sleeping bags. They will document the trip on video and use blog posts as a connection to family, friends, and donors.
“There is not a day we don’t talk about the rally,” says Insel. “Mongolia is a forgotten country and it’s great to give money to them to aid children in need.”