Volunteers perform cross-country charity

For Caroline Smiegal and Caroline Yeager, summer vacation has been pretty intense.

Since June 13, the two have been cycling with dozens of others with the nonprofit Bike & Build on a summer-long journey to offer a hand in affordable housing projects across the country.

The Bike & Build crew landed in Whitefish Saturday, staying at Christ Lutheran Church, and worked on Habitat for Humanity housing projects outside Kalispell on Sunday. They headed up to Eureka the following day and plan to conclude their trip in Bellingham, Washington, on Aug. 24, more than 4,000 miles from their starting point of Portsmith, New Hampshire.

“The mission is to inspire young people for a life of service and also educate them about the affordable housing problem,” Smiegal said.

“So we raise money for affordable housing organizations and we build along the way,” Yeager added.

Since its founding in 2003 by Marc Bush, Bike & Build trips have totaled 11 million miles biked, more than 3,500 riders engaged, more than 236,000 volunteer hours donated and $6.4 million donated.

In order to ride this summer, each rider has to raise $5,000 in donations, complete 10 hours of community service with an affordable housing organization and learn about the affordable housing crisis in the nation.

Smiegal said she first discovered the organization after a friend completed the cross-country trip.

“Ever since she did that I was inspired and motivated to do something similar,” Smiegal said.

Yeager said many other riders have also discovered Bike & Build through past riders’ recommendations.

“I think most people have heard about it through word of mouth from siblings or friends, and I’d say maybe half of us are college students and the other half have quit our jobs and are transitioning, so it’s the perfect thing to do for the summer,” she said.

At the Kalispell work sites, the volunteers helped re-sod a lawn and lay down mulch all around the property.

Generally they’ll help with Habitat for Humanity projects, Smiegal said, or more local organizations with a similar goal.

The volunteers have to be ready for any type of work they’re called to do.

“Our projects vary, we’ve done a lot of painting, scraping, things like that and more maintaining homes if people can’t afford those projects. A lot of demolition, some building, and then we’ll do things like this,” Smiegal said. “For the average person, this would be super expensive to have a team come in and do this.”

In addition, most of the time volunteers get to work directly with the homeowners they’re benefiting.

“That’s really cool too, because you get to talk to them and hear their stories,” she said. “It means more when you can see how it’s impacting people.”

For Yeager, coming through Montana strikes a personal chord.

Passing through Glacier National Park has been the highlight of many of the riders as well, she said.

“I grew up coming to Glacier every year, so my favorite part was riding over Going-to-the-Sun Road yesterday and just coming into this area, it’s just beautiful,” she said. “[The bike ride] was hard but amazing — the descent was awesome.”

As their journey comes to a close, both Smiegal and Yeager said they’ve been grateful for a chance to spend their summer traveling and helping people across the U.S.

Seeing different parts of the country on a bike while having the opportunity to help others has been the best part about the experience, Smiegal said.

“You can stop whenever you want and talk to people along the way and engage with communities like this, whereas if you were driving or flying you just don’t get to do that. So learning about my country and the affordable housing problem has been really impactful,” she said.

“It’s the best summer ever, I would encourage other people to do it.”

For more information on Bike & Build, visit www.bikeandbuild.org.