RIT Hosts ‘Bike & Build’ Team June 27-29

Thirty cyclists have embarked on the ride of their lives—and they’re making a pit stop at Rochester Institute of Technology along the way.

Bike & Build, a charitable organization comprised of college students and recent college graduates, organizes five transcontinental bike teams each year. Each team takes a different route across the continent.

RIT is hosting the Northern U.S. team members, whose journey began in Portsmouth, N.H. on June 15 and will end in Vancouver, B.C. Aug. 19. The team will cruise onto the RIT campus Tuesday evening from Oswego, and will leave for Lockport Thursday morning.

The ride is much more than just a summer trip. The team has five “build days” built into its trek, and one of them is June 28 in Rochester. Half the team will work at the Fulton Ave. area Habitat for Humanity sites. The other half will work at Faith Lutheran Church’s daycare center.

Each biker was required to raise $4,000 in order to participate. After the expenses have been paid for, two-thirds of the remaining money will be donated to the Dartmouth College affiliate of Habitat for Humanity. The other third will be donated to the Bike & Build grant program, which funds poverty housing programs run by young people throughout the country.

This is the fourth year that RIT has hosted a team. In addition to supplying housing, RIT will also provide meals for the cyclists. Director of Religious Life Jeff Hering will be the chef.

“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to support a group of young people who are so dedicated to making a difference, not just in our community, but in communities throughout the country,” Hering says.

Both the Bike & Build team and Hering will be available to the media upon the team’s arrival Tuesday at Kate Gleason Hall on the residential side of campus. The team is tentatively scheduled to arrive between 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. For other media opportunities, please contact John Follaco at (585) 475-4948.

Tentative itinerary
(Meals served in the Schmitt Interfaith Center, the east end of the Student Alumni Union)
June 27: Arrival/dinner at RIT, 2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m.
June 28: Breakfast at RIT, 7:30 a.m.; site work, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
June 29: Breakfast at RIT, 7:30 a.m.; departure, 8 a.m.