Some members of the Triangle community will spend their summer on a bike, stopping only to sleep and build.
Kerri Lyons, an instructor in the biology department, and approximately 240 others will bike across the country this summer as part of the Bike and Build program. As the group members travel from Virginia Beach, Va. to Cannon Beach, Ore., they will stop to build affordable living spaces with organizations such as Rebuilding Together and Habitat for Humanity. Bike and Build is an independent nonprofit through which young adults bike cross-country to raise money and awareness for affordable housing projects across the United States.
“A good friend of mine completed Bike and Build two summers ago and has inspired me to want to do the same,” Lyons wrote on her online Bike and Build profile. “Just hearing him talk about the projects he did, [the] people he met and all the biking, [it] got me musing about how I could schedule the time to be able to do it as well.”
According to the Bike and Build website, the program has donated more than $3 million to youth-led projects, which focus on creating fair, decent and affordable housing. The program also strives to introduce young adults to the housing cause and maintains a strong alumni network. Several alumni of Bike and Build who currently live in the Research Triangle area remain involved with the program, she said in an interview.
Lyons added that Bike and Build is an especially great option for her, given how competitive summer programs and internships can be.
Each participant is responsible for raising at least $4,500 in preparation for the trip. The money goes to fund each individual’s trip as well as affordable housing projects across the country.
Lyons has almost reached the halfway point in her fundraising. She said she will donate the money she raises to the Durham chapter of Habitat for Humanity, where she has previously volunteered. Bike and Build requires each participant to complete 10 “sweat equity hours”—volunteer hours with a local affordable housing group—before embarking on the trip.
As part of her fundraising, Lyons organized the Fool’s Gold 5K Run and Walk, which took place Sunday. About 20 participants from the local community ran or walked around the Al Buehler trail surrounding the Washington Duke Inn and Golf Course. The winner and prizes were determined according to which participant most accurately guessed the time it would take them to complete the course, rather than the runner who finished first. Participants were not allowed to have watches with them while they ran.
The winner ran the course in 19 minutes, 48 seconds—missing his original guess of 20 minutes flat.
“[A 5K fundraiser] brings out a lot more people, and it’s just a really fun-spirited event,” said Dre Antono, a runner in the 5k and a Bike and Build alumnus. “It kind of gives people who aren’t always in front a chance to win.”
Noting how Bike and Build transformed his own life and made him more physically active, Antono said he is glad that Lyons will go through the experience.
“The network of people that do the program is really tight knit. I’m really excited for [Lyons] to make these connections,” Antono said. “You definitely have to be a little wacky to try something like this.”
Lyons noted that she will be hosting more events in the future to reach her fundraising goal.
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