Brian Christian (l-r), Erik Brown and Sameer Shariff raised $15,000 for Habitat for Humanity on a cross-country bicycle ride. Three friends began their summer by setting out on a mixed mission of charity and good times. They ended it with many milestones and $15,000 to hand over to Habitat for Humanity, their charity of choice.
Sameer Shariff, Erik Brown and Brian Christian took a bicycle ride unlike any they had experienced and “it was awesome,” said Shariff, unofficial spokesperson for the group. “It restored our faith in mankind. We were on this charity mission and that felt great.
“All along the way we were totally dependent on the kindness of others and they really pulled through. What a great feeling to experience that sort of exchange.”
The good feelings all came about on a summertime trek, with about 27 others, across country to benefit Habitat, the international nonprofit that builds homes for the working poor.
Shariff, Brown and Christian each had to raise at least $4,000, or $1 a mile. With the $15,000 between the three that was raised, they did more than the minimum. The entire complement of about 87 riders on different tours made $350,000 for the organization.
It wasn’t a usual summer for the three ambitious ivy leaguers.
Shariff, 20, of Tinton Falls, is an undergraduate studying electrical engineering at Princeton University. Brown, 19, also from Tinton Falls, is a physics major at Yale University, New Haven, Conn.; and Christian, a Little Silver native, attends Brown University, Providence, R.I., and majors in computer science and philosophy.
Shariff and Brown grew up in the same neighborhood. They met in the fifth grade, went to separate high schools and met Christian at that time.
They all played sports together and went off to college. They stayed in touch.
Shariff, Christian and Brown wanted to give back while getting in a little fun and that’s exactly what they did when they signed up for their cross-country trip, officially dubbed the Habitat Bicycle Challenge.
The event, which collects donations through sponsorships, was conceived 10 years ago at Yale when a small group of students who wanted to make a difference for Habitat set out on a very roughly conceived, seat-of-their-pants tour.
“They just got sponsors, bikes and backpacks and rode,” Shariff said. “They slept on the side of the road and really roughed it, but ended up making $50,000. Now the tour has become much more organized and the courses are not as difficult to travel.”
Participants now ride about 70 to 80 miles a day and, in exchange for their hard pedaling, participating churches and community centers along the way provide overnight accommodations and meals.
Shariff will be the first to attest to the fact that it’s no luxury tour of the continent. However, in the new and improved Challenge, support crews travel alongside the “bikers” in a van to provide repairs and other assistance when needed.
The trio embarked on the tour in June in New Haven, Conn., and spanned nine weeks and 4,000 miles going through America’s heartland — from New York and ending in San Francisco.
“We were thinking of that moment from the start of the trip — what it would be like when we got to the Golden Gate Bridge,” Shariff said a few weeks after returning home. “It was incredible. We stopped at the entrance, took in the sights and, together, all 28 of us rode across the bridge. When we got to the other side, we were greeted by cheering people from Habitat and family members. It was a great moment I will never forget.”