{"id":111374,"date":"2015-07-01T16:25:55","date_gmt":"2015-07-01T22:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cyclists-visit-area-on-mission-for-poor\/"},"modified":"2015-07-01T16:25:55","modified_gmt":"2015-07-01T22:25:55","slug":"cyclists-visit-area-on-mission-for-poor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cyclists-visit-area-on-mission-for-poor\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyclists visit area on mission for poor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Tom
Tom Weber discusses the features of the bike he's riding across the U.S.<\/span>Sam Green\/Cortez Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A lively and compassionate group of 40 cyclists passed through Cortez this week on their cross-country charity mission to improve housing for the poor.<\/p>\n

The 4,000-mile Fuller Center Bicycle Adventure began June 5 in Oceanside, Calif., and ends in Portland, Maine, on Aug. 15 after traveling through 14 states.<\/p>\n

Participants must raise $1 for every mile they ride, and choose how far they want to ride. Now in its eighth year, the ride has raised more than $1.1 million for The Fuller Center\u2019s affordable housing ministry.<\/p>\n

Riders rely on churches for accommodations. On Thursday, St. Barnabus of the Valley Episcopal Church put up the riders so they could recover from the 63-mile ride from Monticello, Utah.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those of us completing the entire ride, we must fundraise $4,000,\u201d said Tom Weber, a fit 73-year-old, whose bike decal says he\u2019s from Geezerville, Colo. \u201cThis is my fifth year to ride cross country and work for the cause. I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along the way, the group contributes their labor to pre-arranged home-repair projects for low-income residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe build fences and trim trees, build wheel-chair ramps, cleanup yards for the elderly,\u201d said Jonathan Falk, of Jacksonville, Fla. \u201cI joined because the Christian nonprofit has the same values I grew up with.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ride is supported by vans carrying gear, food and shelter. But it\u2019s not easy riding through the 100-degree heat in Southern California and Arizona. Next up is Durango, then Wolf Creek Pass, then on to Colorado Springs, where they dismount bikes and spend many hours repairing homes.<\/p>\n

John Busley, of Los Angeles, said his wife, Monica, did the ride and persuaded him to take the charity challenge this year with her. The military man does not have much cycling experience, but he said the support has been excellent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve fallen a few times. The group has a positive vibe, and are very helpful if you have not done a lot of cycling,\u201d he said. \u201cMy military friends are chipping in for my fundraising goal because they know I have to earn every mile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eldon Eigsti, of Illinois, pilots a recumbent, and loves riding for a purpose while lending a hand to work on homes along the way.<\/p>\n

The scenery\u2019s not bad either.<\/p>\n

\u201cRiding through Monument Valley as the sun came up was a real highlight,\u201d he said. \u201cMy son and daughter will be joining me in Missouri, so I\u2019m looking forward to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The riders organize into groups based on ability, and have occasional 100-mile days.<\/p>\n

The Fuller Center for Housing was founded by Millard Fuller, who also founded Habitat for Humanity.<\/p>\n

Besides the annual charity ride, the organization provides aid for those with housing needs \u2013 from maintenance and improving energy efficiency, to low-income housing development projects. Beneficiaries are often required to provide sweat equity for their homes, which come with zero-percent interest mortgages on terms they can afford.<\/p>\n

Weber, who\u2019s actually from Bloomfield, Colo., said the integrity of Fuller Center inspired him to join their effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cI signed up after my research showed they are very generous and organized with the funds they raise,\u201d he said. \u201cThe organization\u2019s leaders do not have huge salaries or live in mansions. They really make a difference providing safe housing for those in need all of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more go to FullerCenter.org. To follow the bicycle adventure specifically go to FullerCenterBikeAdventure.org.<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

$1 for each mile on trip from California<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":111375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6363],"tags":[408,188,2307,453],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-111374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ds-news","tag-charity","tag-dolores-star","tag-gullifords-travels","tag-housing-and-urban-planning"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111374"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=111374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}