Saturday afternoon, a group of around 18 cyclists pedaled into town.
They started the day in Bloomfield and rode the approximately 70 miles to Fort Madison and spent the night at the Joy Baptist Church house.
The cyclists were part of The Fuller Center Bike Adventure, riding across the country from Seattle, Washington to Washington, D.C.
The adventure started May 24 in Seattle, with a route – in segments — crossing Washington, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa.
The group took a rest day in Fort Madison before heading to Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, and finally, Washington, D.C.
Neil Mullikin, Bike Adventure coordinator, explained how the group landed at Joy Baptist.
“Basically, when we look at a community, since we’re nondenominational, we don’t have any particular preference in regard to a church. We look at churches that are mid-sized and then we start asking if they’ll accommodate us,” he said. “We look at cities around every 70 miles along the way and then we start contacting churches in that community.”
Not every rider participated in every segment of the trip.
Mullikin said there were 18 riders going all the way, with around 50 others that joined at various points.
Rider Bob Andig said The Fuller Center is a non-profit organization that benefits people in need of better housing, which is a huge need across the country.
“Along the way we stop and we have build days where we help the different Fuller locations further their progress on different housing projects,” he said, “and they can range from yard work to taking down trees to painting, putting up walls, insulating, roofing, revising.”
The group is just over halfway done with the voyage and the work projects, Anding said.
“We’ve found that they’ve been very, very beneficial to the families or the individuals that have a huge need,” he said. “One of the criteria is basically the families or the people that are going to benefit, they have to put in some sweat equity.”
This isn’t just a charity, Anding said, where workers come in and do everything. Homeowners are expected to participate.
That’s a familiar tenant Habitat for Humanity follows regarding builds. Millard Fuller, founder of The Fuller Center, along with his wife, Linda, founded Habitat for Humanity as well.
Mullikin said there had been a parting of the ways between the Fullers and Habitat for Humanity in 2005. The Fuller Center was founded in 2007.
“Millard said the organization (Habitat for Humanity) had grown so large that it kind of went away from where he wanted it to go,” he said, “and said The Fuller Center is everything he wanted it to be.”
More than $160,000 in donations was raised by riders for this particular journey, Anding said.
“In terms of donations, unlike many charitable organizations, they may spend 50-65% on the funds they collect just for administration,” he said. “This organization takes great pride in limiting their expenses to less than 3% of the collected funds. So at least 97 or maybe 98% of the funds collected end up going to the beneficiaries of the effort.”
It’s been a great ride so far, Mullikin said.
“We’ve seen a lot of great sites, met a lot of great people,” he said, “done some great work.”
Everybody joins for different reasons, Mullikin said.
“But ultimately, once you have the chance to meet the families ... you have the opportunity to serve in these communities,” he said. “It’s a bonding experience in so many ways. Not only bonding with the riders, but a bonding between the riders and the families.”
For cyclist Maggie Adkins, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she’s always wanted to ride across the country.
“When I was 10 years old, I rode from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C. with my mom,” she said, “and then we also did a bike ride called GOBA (Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure) and I had met people that rode across the country and I always thought that was so cool and I was like ‘oh my gosh, I want to do that when I grow up.’ ”
Cyclist Dave Burgess said several people have said the cross-country ride has been a bucket list item and “looked up either cross-country bike rides or faith-based cross-country bike rides.”
“Faith-based is really important,” he said.
White agreed.
“Biking with a mission,” she said.
So far, work sites have been in Kellogg, Idaho; Craig, Colorado; and Logan, Utah. Remaining sites will be in Peoria, Illinois; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Blacksburg, Virginia.
For more information, visit www.fullercenterbikeadventure.org or www.fullercenter.org.
