The funds raised through the raffle will be applied to a $500 scholarship awarded to a part-time student on the Coon Rapids Campus.

Erickson himself will select the winning raffle tickets when he arrives on campus on Monday, August 21, the first day of his bike tour.

For the past four years, Erickson has biked to each of the 53 campuses in the MnSCU system to bring awareness to the financial needs of part-time students. His trek takes him more than 2,000 miles in a one-month period. His goal is to raise money and build public support for making more financial aid available to Minnesota's part-time college students, who often struggle to balance college with family and full-time work.

“Many of these students fall between the cracks of financial aid systems,” Erickson has said. “The state needs to change its formula to give part-time students an equal opportunity.”

The first-place winner in the scholarship raffle will win a Trek 820 mountain bike valued at $249. The bike has been donated by Al Adams, owner of Ramsey Bicycle of Ramsey, Minn. In addition, second- and third-place winners will be selected; each additional winner will receive two tickets to the Coon Rapids Foundation’s popular fall event, the Prairie Home Delights dinner and silent auction.

Raffle tickets for the scholarship fund-raisers can be purchased for $1 at the Foundation Office on the Coon Rapids Campus.

For information about the Coon Rapids Foundation’s fund-raising efforts, contact the Foundation Office at 763.433.1220.