Build Day in Binghamton, NY

We stopped for lunch yesterday in a small town in NY called Deposit and apparently it was a hot story in which the bank (who's parking lot we were parked in) called the newspaper to get over there ASAP and talk to us haha. Here is the article she emailed to us. Some of the info is a little inaccurate.. oh well. We actually were required to each raise $4,000, but on average our route raised $4,300 per rider with our route's total being about $140,000.

Thanks so much Jake and everyone for the opportunity to do a photo and put your story in The Deposit Courier, Deposit New York. Hope its a great summer for all of you!

WITH A TIP from Mary Fineout of NBT Bank on Front Street The Deposit Courier went down to snap a picture of bikers, in back of the NBT parking lot, who stopped to take a rest on Thursday, June 12. The group of 31 bikers, ranging in age from 18 to 24 years old and from all parts of the country, are part of the bikeandbuild.org who are pedaling to end poverty housing.

Through fund-raising cycling trips, Bike & Build raises money for awareness of affordable housing efforts. Their events act as a catalyst to build homes, foster the spirit of service, and empower young adults...mile by mile, house by house.

Their trek began in Providence, RI and will end in Seattle, WA. This group's goal was to raise 4,000 this trip. They have already raised 4,300. Their group alone has raised 140,000 in the past. So far combined groups have raised 475,000 this year, and a total of 1.1 million in the history of the group.

The cyclists were ready to head towards Binghamton at 2:00 p.m. where they were stopping Friday to help build a house. They are partnered with Habitat for Humanity.

It will take them a total of 70 days total to reach their destination. Most of them will fly back to their homes, but there are some who plan on, (imagine that,) biking back.

For more information or if you wish to make a donation go to their website bikeand build.org

Today we had a build day in Binghamton, NY with the local Habitat for Humanity. We woke up at 7am and arrived on site by about 8:30 am to see four HUGE piles of soil. I think the director said it was about 16 tons! Our job was to shovel it all and spread it all over the yard. It took a while and was a lot of hard work, but I actually really enjoyed shoveling it! It was a good workout and worked different muscles than we are using everyday on the bike.

We had a lunch of pizza and fruit which was nice since we all seem to be starving all the time. After lunch we finished spreading the soil and then got to work on planting the grass. First we put down fertilizer. Then, some lime. And last the grass seeds. Then you rake it all so to mix the seeds into the top layer of soil. Then we covered the ground with hay which helps keep the ground moist and keeps the seeds from drying out. They had the sprinklers going as we pulled away in our van. It was a lot of hard manual labor, but I had a lot of fun doing it.

Tomorrow we set out for Towanda, Pennslyvania which should be about 70 miles. Hoping to not get lost. We will see...

You can check my photos that I uploaded directly onto the bike and build website (and everyone else's photos from my route) at this link http://www.bikeandbuild.org/cms/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,257/

love everyone! xoxo