My first donation!

Thanks to my anonymous donor of $10.00– I appreciate you!

Much love,

Emma

The Crazy One

I am really excited to announce that on June 16th, 2013 I (along with 29 other young folks) will begin to bicycle from Portland, Maine. A mere 73 days later, the 30 of us will end our cycling journey, 3855 miles,  in Santa Barbara, CA.

I am taking on this journey as a partner with Bike and Build, a non-profit that organizes eight of these bicycle trips across the US. The purpose of all this cycling is to raise awareness about affordable housing issues. During my journey I will be stopping in the following communities to help build homes for families that wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford one:

Jun 18 – Portland, ME
Jun 21 – Andover, MA
Jun 25 – Pittsfield, MA
Jul 7 – Columbus, OH
Jul 8 – Columbus, OH
Jul 12 – Bloomington, IN
Jul 16 – St Louis, MO
Jul 20 – Springfield, MO
Jul 24 – Tulsa, OK
Jul 30 – Amarillo, TX
Aug 10 – Payson, AZ
Aug 13 – Flagstaff, AZ
Aug 23 – Palmdale, CA

Over the past 10 years Bike and Build has:

• donated more that 4 million dollars towards non-profits addressing the affordable housing crisis
• put in more that 120,000  hours of building time
• pedaled over 6 million miles
• and engaged over 1700 young adults in spreading the word about the US’s affordable housing crisis

In addition to the biking and building, I’ll be educating and connecting. Each night we will stop at local community centers, churches, and other organizations for food and shelter. Further, my group and I will give  presentations on affordable housing. Our goal is to educate as many people in as many places as possible in order to raise awareness and support for the cause.

I’ve started this blog to keep you updated on my training and preparation for this physically demanding and totally rewarding journey. One of the prerequisites for being able to ride is to raise $4500.00. This money will be distributed to various affordable housing organizations through grants submitted to Bike & Build and evaluated by each route of riders. In addition to these larger grants, each rider is able to chose one affordable housing organization to donate $500.00 to. The remainder of the money will go to support the costs of our trip across the country. If you’d like to donate to my specific ride you can find my profile on the Bike and Build website by visiting: http://bikeandbuild.org/rider/6817 

In addition to soliciting donations I’ll be hosting a variety of fundraising efforts throughout the next 5 months to raise the full amount. I’ll post on this blog periodically to keep you up to date on my donations, upcoming fundraising events, and my training in preparation for bicycling over 3000 miles this summer!

If you’re curious about my personal motivation to take on this journey AKA if you’re asking yourself, “IS SHE CRAZY?!?” my answer is: Yes and the full answer is long and complex so I will be sure to write another post at a later date. In the mean time this quote shall suffice:

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”  —— Steve Jobs

Much love,

Emma