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Cross-country cyclists help out in PW
Sixteen cyclists are pedaling 2,500 miles to raise awareness and support for The Fuller Center for Housing, a nonprofit Christian housing ministry based in Georgia.
The team stopped off in Manassas Park on July 5 and helped repair houses before continuing their ride, which celebrates the Fuller Center’s fifth anniversary.
While in town, the 16 cyclists were joined by local Geico employees and other volunteers to rehabilitate homes for needy families in Manassas Park.
The Fuller Center group aims to raise $250,000 while also encouraging hands-on involvement and helping communities to start or support Fuller Center projects.
Rider Tony Campbell reports in his blog that after they arrived in Manassas Park, the riders and their supporters divided into two groups. One group landscaped a house on Lambert Street while the other assembled emergency preparedness kits for distribution to 500 low-income families.
The kits were finished first so the two groups finished the landscaping together, despite the heatwave. Jacob Koch, president of the Fuller Center of Northern Virginia, joined in and supplied pizza for the volunteers.
Will and Diane Ameen hosted the riders for dinner. Will Ameen has been helping with the Lambert Street house renovation and met the riders at Manassas St. Thomas United Methodist Church.
On July 6, Campbell and three other short-distance riders headed home while the other seven left to ride on to Fredericksburg.
The group had left Niagara Falls on June 20 and will arrive in New Orleans on Aug. 7. While the primary group is pedaling all the way, volunteers have been joining in to ride with them for a few miles or a few hundred miles before returning to their homes.
The ride is also commemorating the fifth anniversary of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It was after these storms that the Fuller Center began its first major building initiative, constructing homes in Shreveport for low-income hurricane victims who had relocated. The event was inspired by fundraising walks of 700, 1,000 and 1,200 miles that Fuller Center and Habitat for Humanity founders Millard and Linda Fuller led during their time at Habitat.
The Fuller Center is based in Americus, Ga., and is currently working in 17 countries and nearly 60 U.S. cities, including the metropolitan D.C. area.
Visit www.FullerCenter.org for details.
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