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By Lookout Staff
August 19 – A Santa Monica resident was among 30
bicyclists who pedaled 3,800 miles over 66 days to raise money and
build awareness for affordable housing.
Emily Josephs returned home last Thursday from the transcontinental trip that
left Boston on June 11th and arrived in Santa Barbara last week.
The trip was organized by "Bike and Build," a non-profit organization
that organizes cross-country bicycle trips to benefit grass-roots affordable
housing groups in the U.S. (www.bikeandbuild.org).
Some 210 young cyclists have traveled seven different Bike and Build routes
from the east coast to the west coast, raising more than $420,000.
Each rider must raise $4,000 to participate in the trip, with half of the money
for expenses and the other half donated to housing groups, such as Habitat for
Humanity.
Cyclists on the Boston to Santa Barbara route stopped along the way to work
on building projects in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Oklahoma,
Texas, Nevada and California.
At the sites they dug postholes, mixed cement to build a fence, hauled bricks,
installed cabinets and painted a 6-bedroom house in one day for a Somali refugee
with 14 children.
The Bike and Builders rode as many 110 miles a day, sleeping on the floor in
church basements, school gymnasiums and, occasionally, campgrounds. They took
turns making presentations on affordable housing for their host groups.
The trip took them from the Atlantic Ocean, through the Appalachians and Alleghenies
to historic Route 66, over the continental divide at 8,600 feet, across the
Hoover Dam in 115-degree heat, through Las Vegas and down to the Pacific.
The daughter of Santa Monica activist Zina Josephs, Emily attended Grant Elementary
School and John Adams Middle School and volunteered at the Santa Monica Pier
Aquarium and the California Wildlife Center in Malibu.
She recently graduated from Brown University with a degree in biology.
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