‘Ride With Rinus’ Campaign To Be Featured at GMR Grand Prix

Ed Carpenter Racing announced a partnership with Building Tomorrow, an international, not-for-profit organization supporting literacy and numeracy in Uganda, for the GMR Grand Prix.

Through the generosity of a longtime Building Tomorrow supporter, defending race winner Rinus VeeKay will compete in the No. 21 Building Tomorrow Chevrolet on Saturday, May 14 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Together, Building Tomorrow and ECR have launched “Ride With Rinus,” where any contributor who donates $75 can have their name added to VeeKay’s car.

Founded in 2006, Building Tomorrow aims to improve learning outcomes in underserved communities throughout Uganda. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, some 1.2 million children were out of school across Uganda. The country then experienced the longest continuous school closures in the world due to the pandemic, with some 10 million children out of school for nearly two years. Working in partnership with local communities, Building Tomorrow delivered its Roots to Rise literacy and numeracy programming to more than 40,000 children in 2021 and will reach over 100,000 learners in 2022.

Donations for the “Ride With Rinus” program will benefit Building Tomorrow’s Roots to Rise program, a foundational learning initiative teaching basic literacy and numeracy skills based on students’ learning level, not age. A donation of just $75 will give contributors the opportunity to put their name on VeeKay’s No. 21 Building Tomorrow Chevrolet and allow five children to enroll in an upcoming Roots to Rise camp. With the goal of adding 1,500 names to the race car, Building Tomorrow would be able to support 7,500 children in Uganda and help them get their education back on track after two years without formal schooling. To “Ride With Rinus,” donations can be made online at BT.TEAM.

“We’re delighted to partner with Ed Carpenter Racing to raise funds and awareness for the learning crisis in Uganda,” said George Srour, co-founder and chief dreamer of Building Tomorrow. “With this partnership, we’re giving anyone who wants to support literacy and numeracy – basic skills so many Ugandan kids haven’t had the chance to master – the opportunity to do so, and in return they get the chance to ‘Ride With Rinus’ on May 14.”

VeeKay, 21, is in his third season as an NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver, all with ECR. He earned his first career series victory last May in the GMR Grand Prix.

Building Tomorrow and ECR’s “Ride With Rinus” campaign will be active for the next month, closing on April 30, 2022. VeeKay’s car will then be transformed into the No. 21 Building Tomorrow Chevrolet, and contributors’ names will be incorporated into the design. The 2022 GMR Grand Prix will be broadcast live on NBC, beginning at 3 p.m. (ET) Saturday, May 14.