Cycle trip raises funds for Habitat

FALLS VILLAGE — Joe Atwood, son of Tracy and Mary Atwood of Falls Village, is participating in a cross-country bicycle trip to raise funds and awareness for affordable housing efforts.

The trip starts in Nag’s Head, N.C., May 14 and ends in San Diego, Calif., on July 24.

The sponsoring organization is Bike and Build, a nonprofit organization that, according to its Web site, has contributed $2,305,345 to housing groups to fund projects planned and executed by young adults over the past seven years.

The projects are in towns where cyclists live; and they can also be in towns that cycling routes travel through.

Atwood participated in a 2008 ride; one of the stops was in Kent, where the riders stayed at the Kent School, and Habitat for Humanity provided a dinner.

That’s the typical arrangement, Atwood said. “We arrange with community groups for a place to stay, a dinner.

“And we do stop here and there to build with an affordable housing group.â€

Atwood said each rider is expected to raise $4,000 prior to the start of the trip. The money is shared among a variety of projects; the cyclist can designate where $500 of the money will be spent.

Atwood intends to donate his $500 to Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Connecticut.

“I have helped build with them in the past at their four sites down on Lime Rock Station Road,†he said.

Riders are also expected to volunteer on home construction for eight hours, which he will do here as well.

Atwood splits his time between Norwalk and Falls Village. He is a 2008 graduate of Vincennes University in Indiana. His sister, Catherine, a student at Virginia Tech, is participating in a different Bike and Build trip, through the central United States.

For more information, call Atwood at 540-808-9492 or visit bikeandbuild.org.

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