O n Sept. 2, Todd Stoner, 23, left New Jersey to begin a volunteer internship program at the Maine People’s Alliance in Lewiston, Maine, a grassroots organization that focuses on community-organizing skills and leadership development in a variety of socio-economic and environmental issues.
Todd Stoner What was unusual about the trip was the mode of transportation Stoner used to travel the 580 miles to Maine from his home in Freehold Township — a Trek touring bike.
“I’m really new to biking, maybe about 18 months,” said Stoner, a 2004 graduate of Colts Neck High School. “I’m basically a runner, and during the trip it was only the second time I ever changed a bike tire.”
The eight-day trip to Maine that ended on Sept. 10 required five tire changes and numerous bike repairs, with rides ranging from 49 miles to 105 miles a day, he said. The East Coast Greenways, a 2,500-mile traffic free path for nonmotorized vehicles that links major cities from Maine to Florida, was used for the journey.
For housing accommodations, Stoner first stayed with his sister, Jaime, 26, in Brooklyn, N.Y., and then with a friend in Boston. The other five nights he made arrangements through an Internet website that provides hosts for touring bikers.
“I was afraid about staying with strangers, but they were all really great,” he said. “I brought camping equipment and thought I would have to sleep outdoors, but I didn’t need it. In fact, two of the hosts were community organizers.”
Stoner said the worst part of the trip was the 105-mile day of biking and the best part was the people he met along the way.
“They were really fantastic,” said Stoner. “One woman, when I was really tired, drove me 35 miles to my next stop. Then a man, a touring biker himself, helped me fix my bike with just the right part.”
Stoner is a 2008 graduate of The College of New Jersey, Ewing, where he received a degree in political science with an emphasis in international studies and social justice. He was a member and after graduation worked full-time at TCNJ’s Bonner Center, which combines teaching and learning opportunities with community organizations in Trenton and the surrounding region.
Through the Bonner Center, he learned about the Maine People’s Alliance and started to save for the bike trip. He also worked for more than a year as a waiter at a restaurant in Trenton, biking the four miles to work from his residence in Trenton and putting in 60 to 100 hours of work each week.
“Through a contact at the Bonner Center, I stayed at a housing facility owned by an alumnae of Bates College in Lewiston,” said Stoner. “I used the money I earned and found I could live on about $4 a day.”
During his five-week stay at the Maine People’s Alliance, Stoner worked on issues such as health care, immigration and the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) initiative that aims to limit government spending and to prevent wild fluctuation of budgeting and taxation.
“I thought I would be just doing data entry,” he said. “But no, I was treated as a member of the staff and went to work on the issues.”
After working in Maine, Stoner got a ride to Vermont and worked for two weeks at the Vermont Workers Center in Burlington for the organization’s “Healthcare is a Human Right” campaign.
He returned from Vermont to Freehold Township at the end of October by using an Internet ride
share program.
“From all that I learned in college and from the world, I am angry that many people, including low-income people, the working poor, the elderly and immigrants do not have equal access to social services and health care,” said Stoner, who studied in Chile during his junior year of college. “I want to effect change by organizing people.”
To help foster understanding and education of the wider community, Stoner has founded Creative Community, an enterprise of motivational speakers who bring community issues to schools, colleges, civic and religious organizations, as well as business groups.
The group’s first scheduled workshop was about anti-bullying and was presented to seventh grade students at the Cedar Drive Middle School, Colts Neck, on Nov. 11.
Stoner, who has no health insurance, said his mother, Ileen, a teacher, and his father, Edward, a physician, support his political and social justice activism.
“I was always a radical, but I don’t think they or my sister, Jaime, thought I would go this far,” he said.
While home through the holidays, Stoner is working on a website for Creative Community and sending applications to nonprofit groups seeking a paying job. He is also looking to learn more about the poverty and social issues in the nation’s southern states. For more information about Creative Community workshops or to contact Stoner, send an email to [email protected].