Pennington woman cycles cross-country for a cause

   Editor’s note: Kaley Bell, a 2002 graduate of Hopewell Valley Central High School and a resident of Pennington, is en route to California by bike. She promised several updates along the way. Here is the first installment.

   Starting June 11, I began a nine-week cross-country bike tour, riding from Providence, R.I., to San Francisco, Calif. My adventure is with Bike and Build, a nonprofit organization whose motto is "Pedaling to End Poverty Housing." During my trip, I will not only ride nearly 4,000 miles from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but also spend several days at build sites, assisting with the construction of homes for those in need.
   The kids on my trip include a diverse group of college students and graduates, but we are unified by concerns about social justice in our country and psyched to spend a summer sleeping on floors and at campsites and sporting crazy tan lines! One of the best parts of this summer will be seeing the change we will create. When we arrive in San Francisco on Aug. 16, we will have constructed clean and affordable living spaces for multiple families, and in the process spread awareness about the affordable housing crisis to many.
   I graduated from Kenyon College in 2006, and have spent the past year working in Washington, D.C. However the city life really wasn’t for me, and I wanted a job that was actually making a difference, something where I would have a direct influence on people’s lives and be remembered as part of a positive change.
   Plus I love to be active and be outside, and I have several friends who have been participating in Bike and Build since 2003. They always told me the same things: "Bike and Build was the most rewarding experience of my life." "It was the best summer of my life." I figured why not?
   Over the winter I worked hard to raise over $4,000. Supportive donors included several Pennington and Hopewell Township residents. The $4,200 I raised, along with the money that other riders on my trip raised, will build a house in Providence. Other Bike and Build trips (there are six in all) will donate money to build houses in New Hampshire and Sidwell, La.
   Before I was involved in Bike and Build, I already had a road bike, but for riders who don’t, Bike and Build supplies them. We are responsible for on-the-road maintenance, but over the years Bike and Build has struck up great relations with shops – and entire towns – along each route.
   Our nightly accommodations range from churches and YMCAs to Jewish Community Centers, college campuses, and campsites. I have been active in several hosting events already, including a night with the Northern trip at the Silver Bay Association, a YMCA in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, and nights with the Providence to Seattle trip at Kenyon College and the JCC of Columbus, both in Ohio.
   The excitement I saw as those groups rolled in and the enthusiasm in their affordable housing community presentation was more than enough to make me want to join their cause.
   For more information on Bike and Build, check out: www.bikeandbuild.org. Journals and pictures are posted for each trip. In addition, feel free to send questions and/or comments to [email protected]. Follow me as I ride, and check back here for updates throughout the summer.