Bike & Build raises funds for affordable housing projects.
- Over ten seasons, Bike & Build has contributed more than $4M to housing groups to fund projects planned and executed by young adults; this includes more than $600,000 donated from the summer of 2012. Bike & Build hopes to donate at about this contribution level for the summer of 2013.
- Through pre-arranged gifts, Bike & Build funds affordable housing projects executed by our participants in communities where our events begin. Through our grant program, our organization identifies and supports exciting projects involving young people all throughout the nation. Bike & Build also supports local affordable housing organizations along each route through on the road donations.
Bike & Build garners media and community attention for the affordable housing cause.
- Bike & Build’s expansive national footprint allows our organization to promote the need for and importance of affordable housing in 47 states, 1 province, and hundreds of communities nationwide.
- Through print, TV media, radio, town-hall style meetings, and informal grassroots interaction, Bike & Build participants bring our organization’s message to thousands of people from all walks of life.
Maine to Santa Barbara Route:
After a two day Orientation held just outside of Portland, ME, the ME2SB route heads west across the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts and the Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania, interrupted by a day-long ride along the Hudson River. Upon leaving Pittsburgh, the trip continues across the rolling hills of Ohio and vast open spaces of Indiana and Illinois, crossing the Mississippi river in St. Louis, Missouri. At the end of week four the route turns southwest to parallel classic US Route 66 through Oklahoma and Texas. As the terrain transforms from plains to desert, riders will literally be, as The Eagles sang, “standing on the corner of Winslow, AZ…” Pie Town, NM, voted one of the top three overnight locations by last year’s crew, will see riders cross the continental divide, as well as indulge in copious amounts of the local delicacy.
Tulsa, OK, Amarillo, TX, Roswell, NM, and Flagstaff, AZ are all stops en route to the Grand Canyon’s south rim. The last week of the trip says goodbye to the Mojave Desert, as California’s border gives way to rugged cliffs, beautiful vineyards, and finally the beautiful coast of Santa Barbara, CA.
We plan on having 2-4 A Brush with Kindness for these young enthusiastic bikers to work on when they come into town. If you would like to join us, please contact Cindy Kofile at (928) 474-0330.
