This summer, Stephanie Meehan won’t be working a job, completing an internship or going on a beach vacation. Instead, she will bike more than 3,500 miles across the country to raise awareness for affordable housing.

Meehan, Topeka senior, said she wanted to take the summer off after graduating and before going to graduate school in the fall. Then, a friend at another university mentioned the Bike and Build program and Meehan decided to become an activist.

“Affordable housing is not a cause I ever really thought of before,” Meehan said. “It doesn’t cross people’s minds enough.”

Bike and Build started in 2002 to raise awareness for affordable housing. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 12 million people pay more than 50 percent of their yearly income on their home, which leaves many unable to afford other living expenses. For Bike and Build, riders bike across the country during a summer, averaging 70 miles a day. Every few days, bikers stop at a building site of organizations like Habitat for Humanity and help build affordable houses.

Meehan and her friend chose the Boston to Santa Barbara, Calif., route because Meehan had never been to the east coast before. Then they started preparing for the long fundraising and training journey ahead.

Activism in action

Meehan has to raise $4,000 to go on the ride, as required by the program. She has $600, but said if she doesn’t raise the money, she doesn’t get to go on the trip. She said most of the money went back into the organizations the program collaborates.

Bikers must also get eight hours of experience on a building job site before going on the trip.

“We aren’t actually raising money to send somewhere, but we actually get to see and do,” Meehan said.

She said that part of the draw for the program was to spread awareness, and that bikers give a presentation at each stop of the two-month-long trip.

“This is genuine,” Meehan said. “If you didn’t want to do it you wouldn’t bike across the country.”

The group isn’t hard to miss because all 30 bikers in the group wear the same jersey. They also bike near each other.

Training for the trip

Meehan said she was naturally an athletic person, so her friends weren’t surprised she decided to go on the trip. Meehan said that in high school she was on the swim team. Now she swims up to three times a week, runs often and does 40-minute bike rides.

“It’s all about being fit enough,” she said.

Last summer, Meehan completed two triathlons and still regularly rides to campus when the weather is nice. However, two triathlons of bike-riding don’t equal the 3,656 miles she’ll ride this summer. When the weather improves, she said she would ride with the Lawrence Bicycle Club.

Meehan’s friend Allie Kassoy was on the swim team with Meehan in high school. Though graduating, she said she was burnt out academically. She also said she was really passionate about sports, so biking across the country with a friend sounded like fun. She said nostalgia about her own childhood home led her to want to help people without their own.

“Grinnell (college) and my parents have taught me the importance of giving back to others,” Kossoy said.

The cross-country trip will keep a structured schedule, with the usual wake-up call at 6 a.m. Riders will sleep at churches, host homes, or wherever the trip coordinator can find. By 7:30 a.m., the group will leave. They can stop along the way for meals, pictures or sightseeing. They don’t have to stay together as a group, because some members cycle faster than others. Meehan said they would shower when they can, and go without when a shower is not available. She said riders get only 4,500 cubic inches of space for their luggage and everything they need must fit there.

Building awareness

Brendan Newman, Bike and Build program director, said the goal of the program was to get college-aged people involved with issues and to keep them involved.

It worked for Newman. He completed the program in the summer of 2006 and liked it so much that he decided to work for the program.

“You pretty much fall in love with it,” Newman said.

The program started in 2002 with two routes and has been full every year since then. This summer, the program will offer seven separate routes, each with about 30 riders.

Newman said he started receiving applications in September, and some 18 to 25 year-olds come back for second or third trips. Others, he said, aren’t as experienced.

“Some people have never ridden a bike in their life,” Newman said.

—Edited by Nick Mangiaracina