MUNSTER – Many people enjoy bicycling, but not many take it to the extreme that Jim Earnshaw enjoys.
Last month, the retired Chicago Police Department detective spent 19 days pedaling from Crown Point to Washington, D.C., and what kept him going despite the heat, hilly terrain and detours was his cause – the Women’s Care Center in Merrillville. As of the end of August, Earnshaw had raised approximately $1,800 for the WCC, and some donations may still be coming in.
“My wife, Julia, had toured the Center and was impacted by the staff and their program’s mission to provide guidance and assistance to pregnant women and their babies,” said Earnshaw in a fundraising letter he sent to friends and supporters before his trip.
With 36 locations in 12 states serving 30,000 women annually, the WCC (founded in South Bend) provides free, confidential counseling, support and education for pregnant women, including free pregnancy testing and ultrasounds.
“The Merrillville Center has been loving and serving pregnant women and their families in Northwest Indiana since 2017,” Earnshaw said. “WCC directs its resources at what is measurable and proven to save lives and provide support for these women and their families every step of the way, during pregnancy and beyond.”
Earnshaw, 68, said he and his wife met with WCC outreach director Victoria Cain, a fellow SJE parishioner, and obtained her blessing for their “Biking for WCC” fundraiser, which was not Earnshaw’s first charitable endeavor.
A bicyclist for many years, Earnshaw got serious about the sport after serving 21 years in the military and retiring at 63 as a youth detective with the CPD. “I began long touring in 2017, biking from Pittsburgh to Washington DC and usually take one long solo trip a year,” he said.
In 2022, Earnshaw, who has a daughter and four grandchildren, matched his sport with a charitable component for the first time, raising about $1,800 for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention by riding from Chicago to the nation’s capital in memory of three CPD officers who died by suicide. In 2023, he joined a group of 29 with Ends of the Earth Cycling to bike across Iowa and raise $2,400 to battle child sex trafficking in Nepal.
A cradle Catholic, Earnshaw admits falling away from his faith for many years before he began listening to Relevant Radio programming. “Then I went to a men’s weekend retreat with the Capuchin fathers near Detroit and I went to confession. After 40-45 years, I didn’t even know that confessionals don’t have doors anymore,” Earnshaw laughed. “I tried to list all my shortcomings over all those years,” feeling unburdened after the experience.
Meanwhile, Julia Earnshaw, who was a baptized Christian, started attending Order of Christian Initiation for Adults classes and converted to Catholicism last year. “One Sunday, we couldn’t get to Mass and I thought we could at least watch a livestreamed Mass, and we found St. John the Evangelist and we really liked it, so we joined the parish about 18 months ago,” Earnshaw noted. “We went through the Alpha program and now we are going to be helpers for the next session.”
On his bike trips, Earnshaw packs holy cards and takes the opportunity to witness his faith to others. He also reads from Catholic devotional books each morning before beginning that day’s ride – anywhere from 20 to 80 miles this year, depending on the terrain and roadblocks.
“In Richmond, Ind., I walked to a restaurant near my motel for dinner and started a conversation with a waitress. She told me about her dysfunctional family and mentioned that she was trying to quit smoking,” he explained. He advised her to “quit cold turkey and also to pray, and she said she believed in God, but didn’t attend church.”
Earnshaw, admittedly inspired by his attendance with his wife at July’s National Eucharistic Congress, went back to the motel to bring her a prayer card. “I also looked up Catholic churches and found one, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, that was starting OCIA classes on Aug. 25. I printed out the bulletin and gave it to her, highlighting the OCIA program. I don’t know if she went, but it may be an opening for her and with God’s grace, she may come into the Catholic faith.”
With his military/law enforcement background, nothing much flusters Earnshaw, so he was able to help a woman he encountered near Columbus while biking on a trail bordered by a wooded area. “I heard someone saying ‘Help me, help me,’ but I didn’t know if it was a scam or not,” he admitted. Soon, he found a half-clothed woman with her hands tightly bound with a silky red cord.
She explained that she had been raped by a man she was walking with on the trail, and Earnshaw called 911 and waited until police arrived to take her top a hospital. He even waited until the next day to give a statement about what he encountered to a police detective. “Hopefully, the offender will be caught,” he added.
“The best thing about my trips is that you meet so many people that want to help you, ask what you need and make sure you are all right,” Earnshaw said. People offer directions when road construction blocks his path – “GPS doesn’t always show you all the road closures” – and once a man “picked me up in a hailstorm and took me to my next stop,” explained Earnshaw, who pays all of his own expenses and stays at motels along his route.
“I like a challenge, and finding ways to overcome obstacles,” said Earnshaw, who has found a way to pursue his hobby and make a difference in the world.
The Women’s Care Center in Merrillville is located at 8500 Broadway and can be reached at 472-8059.
Caption: Jim Earnshaw, a parishioner at St. John the Evangelist in St. John, was happy to see the U.S. Capitol when he arrived in Washington D.C. on Aug. 25 after a 19-day solo bicycle trip from Crown Point. He enjoys long-distance biking, and for the past three years has sought donations for a charity to give his trips a purpose. This year, he is raising money for the Women's Care Center in Merrillville. (Provided photo)