What have you signed up to do this time?

Once again I’m going to be undertaking another epic bicycle ride with The Fuller Center for Housing! This time I will be cycling around most of the great lakes that separate parts of the USA from Canada. I will cycling from Fargo in North Dakota to the Niagara Falls in New York State. In the process I will be passing Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and then at the Niagara Falls, I will see the Niagara River which discharges into Lake Ontario.

Besides the cycling, we’ll also be stopping to volunteer with Fuller Center projects along the way. For me this is where the main reward lies. Cycling is great, but it is seeing lives transformed and improved that brings me back time and time again. It is truly amazing how much can be achieved in such a short time if you have the manpower to hand. More about the event itself is at fullercenterbikeadventure.org. under the Northern Tier Ride.

Why am I doing it?

I do love a good challenge and making a difference and this will be my seventh ride with the Fuller Center, so I’m looking forward to forming a strong community of volunteers on bikes as we go and making some more life-time friendships.

What’s the Fuller Center?

A 501(c)(3) non-profit Christian organization that believes everyone in the world deserves the opportunity to have a decent home in which to live. Millard and Linda Fuller were self-made millionaires who gave away their fortune in 1969 to follow God's leading. They lived the rest of their lives on humble means and dedicated themselves to providing decent housing to over a million people in 100 countries around the world, culminating in their founding of the Fuller Center in 2005.

Ok, but what does the Fuller Center do?

It builds and repairs homes using volunteers in partnership with families, who help with the work and pay it forward using a no-profit, no-interest loan that gets repaid to help more families.

It works through a grassroots network of volunteer-driven Fuller Centers in 90 U.S. towns and cities and in 20 countries around the world. Work includes community transformation in El Salvador, Armenia and Madagascar to disaster recovery in places like Mayfield, Kentucky and in Haiti to name a few.

It’s built or repaired over 9,000 homes – enough to house 30,000 people! Learn more about the impact here.

What happens to my donation?

The Fuller Center is known for maximizing donations by putting as much of the funds towards the work as possible. Their independent audit estimated that 92% of the funds go directly to program expenses, with only 8% to administrative and fundraising costs. This is a MUCH higher percentage to program than most groups given that the industry standard is 65% to program. The organization is also rated GuideStar Platinum, the charity evaluator's highest certification.

During the ride we live very simply, sleeping on the floors of gracious and generous church hosts, resulting in only about 2-3% of the funds raised helping to cover Bike Adventure expenses on the road.

Are there other ways I can help?

These rides do need crucial support volunteers and media interns so if you’re interested in coming along, please do so!! Besides that, your encouragement and your prayers for health, safety, and a great team would be highly appreciated.

THANK YOU so much! - this is a team event, and it’s not just the riders: by helping YOU are part of the team!