Late afternoon July 1 through early morning July 3 thirty-four young women and men affiliated with Bike & Build were guests of Smithfield Church during a "time off" for respite as they pedal and construct they way from Boston to Santa Barbara.

This team is one of seven such teams biking across the country, "spreading the word about the affordable housing crisis in American," and helping construct affordable housing. Over the past 6 seasons the organization has donated $1,643,145 toward this mission, and its team participants have pedaled over 3.1 million miles.

Our guests started the day in Johnstown. You can easily imagine the challenging terrain they traversed on their way to Smithfield Street. Not surprisingly, after parking their bikes in the vestibule most shed their shoes; many headed for seats not shaped like the ones they'd spent the day on; and others simply hit the floor, made themselves comfortable, and fell asleep.

 

In the meantime a crew of Smithfielders, led by chief pasta and sauce maker John Canning, were filling the serving table with vegan and vegetarian desserts, salads, condiments, nuts, fruits, breads, and meat substitutes (including a marvelous tofu sloppy joe mix).

With everything at last in readiness 34 really hungry people lined up to fill there plates, to return for more, and to return for more. A lot of calories were burned between Johnstown and downtown Pittsburgh and gratefully replenished by our guests, who were eager to share their stories with us and who couldn't say enough about the generosity and hospitality shown them.

 

Somewhere along route to Pittsburgh the van pulling the trailer with all of their gear broke down. The driver finally pulled up to the church door shortly after 8:00 p.m., and the well-synchronized crew quickly set about moving everything from the street, into the church, and to its appointed place.

 

Meet "our team" here and see their route here. They will travel 3706 miles and do 9 builds, arriving in Santa Barbara on August 20 after a June 17 departure from Boston.

We look forward to offering the same extravagant hospitality to another Bike & Build team next year.

  – through you and me!