Biker Bob’s Story

I’ve participated in many mission trips. I’ve been a road bike rider since high school, during college, and each opportunity I got during time away from my career while raising my family. Since retiring, I’ve completed my dream of biking every mile from Atlantic Ocean @ Hilton Head in S Carolina, and from Pacific Ocean at Astoria, Oregon, ending at Mt Rushmore. I thought my dream was fulfilled.

I praise God that I have another opportunity to do home building & repair mission projects as I see our beautiful USA once again from the seat of my bike with a group of like-minded cyclists of The Fuller Center for Housing!

We’ll be sleeping on the floors of host churches so that almost all of the donations we receive go towards building/repairing houses.

More about the event itself is at fullercenterbikeadventure.org.

Why are you doing it?

I’m not (totally) nuts, but I do love a good challenge and making a difference, and I’m looking forward to forming a strong community of volunteers on bikes as we go.

What’s the Fuller Center?

A 501(c)(3) ecumenical Christian organization that believes everyone in the world deserves the opportunity to have a decent home in which to live. Millard and Linda Fuller were self-made millionaires who gave away their fortune in 1969 to follow God's leading. They lived the rest of their lives on humble means and dedicated themselves to providing decent housing to over a million people in 100 countries around the world, culminating in their founding of the Fuller Center in 2005.

Ok, but what does the Fuller Center do?

It builds and repairs homes using volunteers in partnership with families, who help with the work and pay it forward using a no-profit, no-interest loan that gets repaid to help more families.

It works through a grassroots network of volunteer-driven Fuller Centers in 90 U.S. towns and cities and in 20 countries around the world. Work includes community transformation in El Salvador, Armenia and Madagascar to disaster recovery in places like Mayfield, Kentucky and in Haiti to name a few.

It’s built or repaired over 8,000 homes – enough to house 30,000 people! Learn more about the impact here.

What happens to my donation?

The Fuller Center is known for maximizing donations by putting as much of the funds towards the work as possible. Their independent audit estimated that 94% of the funds go directly to program expenses, with only 6% to administrative and fundraising costs. This is a MUCH higher percentage to program than most groups given that the industry standard is 65% to program. The organization is also rated GuideStar Platinum, the charity evaluator's highest certification.

During the ride we live very simply, sleeping on the floors of gracious and generous church hosts, resulting in only about 2-3% of the funds raised helping to cover Bike Adventure expenses on the road.

Are there other ways I can help?

The rides do need crucial support volunteers and media interns (and often more riders!) if you’re interested in coming along, but besides that, your encouragement and your prayers for health, safety, and a great team would be highly appreciated. THANK YOU so much! This is a team event, and it’s not just the riders: by helping YOU are part of the team!