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Grace Episcopal Church will host Bike & Build for a service day at Rockbridge Area Habitat for Humanity’s Greenhouse Village build site on Tuesday, June 6.
The team of 25 riders will arrive Monday, June 5, and volunteers from Rockbridge Area Habitat will team with Grace Episcopal to provide a potluck dinner that evening. On June 6, lunch will be provided at the build site by board members of RAHfH, Jane Harris, Laurie Post and Sarah Dudley.
Bike & Build rider teams embark on cross-country trips and stop about every fifth day to trade their bikes for construction tools to work on an affordable housing build with a local affiliate. For these riders, “days off” are really “days on” as riders serve alongside local community members in hands-on application of Bike & Build’s mission to impact affordable housing. Additionally, prior to the trip every rider must complete 15 hours of “sweat equity” volunteer work on a local affordable housing site in their communities.
Riders also prepare host presentations for the various church congregations and other community members who may host them overnight or for a meal. Presentations focus on sharing information about the Bike & Build mission and why each rider has decided to dedicate their summer to the cause. Riders speak with local residents in each community on their route and spread the message of what it means to pedal for affordable housing.
The riders will start pedaling on to Roanoke on the morning of June 7 as part of their tour of the Blue Ridge Mountains and will continue west to the heartland. By the end of the summer, they will have traveled from Yorktown to Florence, Oregon, to fulfill their cross-country mission.
Since its founding in 2003, Bike & Build has motivated over 3,900 young adult volunteers and contributed over $6.4 million and 255,000 volunteer hours to housing groups such as Habitat for Humanity and Rebuilding Together to fund projects in the United States. For more information, visit www. bikeandbuild.org or call (267) 331-8488.
