Bike, Build, Bonding – By Aaron Alaman
Build 3 – Virginia Beach, Va / Hampton, Va
This morning we woke up at 6:30 a.m. to start a Fuller Center Bike Adventure first… Bike and build in the same day! We packed up the trailer and van and left Providence Mennonite Church who housed us for two nights. After a grueling 7-mile bike ride in light rain, we arrived at Huntington Mennonite Church. This bike ride was not without incident though, Kyle suffered a flat from some glass on the road. This brings his flat tire count to seven and tied with Ryan for second-most flats. Thanks to Kenda Tires for sponsoring/providing us with the tubes and tires.
Our build today consisted of a bit of demolition and landscaping for Gayle Landon with the help of James Hancock and David Powell from the First United Methodist Church of Fox Hill. It was an opportunity for some of us to use some power tools, like a gas-powered hedge trimmer and a chainsaw! With any good build, there are some dangers to all this demolition work. Jonny stepped on a nail which lightly pierced his foot. He stuck it out like a champ and finished the work day with us (and yes he thankfully had a Tetanus Shot previously). Plus, it was his last day with us. You’ll be missed, Jonny!
Unfortunately we couldn’t fix everything that was wrong but it gives the Methodist church a good starting point to help out. Sometimes I wish we could see a project from start to finish, but someone’s got to raise the $250,000 and bike the remaining 1,550 miles so projects like this can keep happening.
After we finished, we got invited by James to David’s house for dinner and fellowship. They cooked us a delicious spread of BBQ chicken, corn, baked beans, two kinds of potato salad, watermelon and brownies. The friendliness of them is refreshing as they made us feel like family which is a great feeling to have since we are all separated from our own families during our tenure on the Bike Adventure. They even gave us the leftovers so we can have something for the road tomorrow!
Help Aaron meet his $5,000 fundraising goal. Visit his personal fundraising page to donate!
***Want to MAIL your favorite biker an encouraging note or some cookies? They’ll be at the address below on July 16, so send quickly!
Hopewell Presbyterian Church
10500 Beatties Ford Rd.
Huntersville, NC 28078
*Flat Tire Count*
| Current riders: Aaron Alaman – 0 Brett Safran – 8 Chris Cosby – 0 Ivan Cunningham – 0 Kyle Halat – 7 Ryan Iafigliola – 7 Susan Pratt – 0 |
Previous Riders: Abby – 4 Leah – 2 Melissa – 3 Nate – Still collecting data Olivia – 0 Sarah – 2 Tom – Still collecting data Tony – Still collecting data |
One Comment
Ryan and Team, God be with you. May the bessings today and each coming day be bountiful in your faithful pursuit of promoting the Fuller Center and its goal for eliminating substandard housing. Prayers of thanksgiving for all of you and that great resources will be guided to the Fuller Center because each of you is willingly stepped out in faith. That inspiring quote mentioned in one of Millard’s books could have been written about you, "When you step out in faith and let the Lord lead, you may have to run to keep up." You guys are runners of bicycles. I pray that you are literallyhaving to run (and pedal) to keep up with the blessings that are being showered upon you. Ryan, I look forward to hearing more from you at the 2nd annual Millard Fuller Legacy Build in Indianapolis in early September. Oyee!