Leader Retreat

Last weekend all the leaders for the 8 different Bike and Build Routes gathered at the Headquarters in Philly. We spent the weekend meeting some awesome people, finally meeting my co-leaders that I speak to one the phone/online all the time, and learning about many aspects of being a leader on one of these trips. We talked about the day to day aspects, health issues to be aware of, maintaing an open and welcoming community, how to fix a flat tire and other bike maintenance stuff. Overall, it was super fun, and wicked helpful. 

    In the Bike and Build spirit, we slept on the YMCA floor and ate PB+J sandwiches (sunflower butter for me!). Other food was donated by various restaurants, and it was all delicious. The weekend got me all geared up, and I feel like I want to be done school, and leave this weekend!

Thanks to Rachel Kuhr, my most recent donor!

   

Sweat Equity

One of the Bike and Build requirements is to complete "sweat equity", aka volunteer for an affordable housing organization before the beginning of the trip. I spent last week in Louisiana, in a town just outside of New Orleans rebuilding from Katrina. There was a group of eight people from my grad school, and my dad who came along! It was a great week and we got a lot of great work done. I volunteer here in Baltimore with Habitat for Humanity regularly, and have 4 more days scheduled before I leave.

Check out the blog (by Nikita Parson) from this trip at: habitat-9.blogspot.com

Thanks to my newest donors: Rachel Boss, Darlene Houston, and Claire and Neil Doherty!  

In honor of Craig

As some of you know, a good friend of mine from Elizabethtown College, Craig Anderson, passed away from cancer about a month ago.Craig was an amazing person and had high spirits the entire time he was sick. I've decided to ride in honor of Craig this summer to share his high spirits for making a difference in the lives of those he met.
Please keep Craig and his family in your prayers.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Donations

Thanks to family members who donated this past weekend: Paula Socha, Tonia Socha, Becky and Joe Socha! And, Thanks to Corey Shdaimah for her donation also.

I've finally broken the $1000 mark, and things seem to keep crawling upward, which is awesome! More letters went out Saturday morning, so hopefully this trend will continue.

I have a fundraiser planned for April 18th at the Bmore Fair, I'm thinking of doing kid's face painting for donations. Something fun, and far less effort than the bake sale. In addition, I'm going to have a house party on April 25th. Tickets are $30 each, $50 for a couple. Student Discount is $15 per person. Food, Drinks, Entertainment and door prizes will all be available. Email me at ksocha@bikeandbuild.org if you'd like a ticket.

Training

I started training when I got back to Baltimore in January. It's been kind of slow coming, and mostly indoors due to the weather. But, I've biked 333 miles so far! And have been trying to do some cross training of running (which I hate...) and swimming at one of the colleges in the area (we don't have a pool). I've been outside on my bike 3 times so far, and was really counting on this past weekend to get out... but it snowing, so that didn't happen :( Overall, things are looking good, but I need to pick up the pace as its less than 4 months away now!

Thanks to my most recent donors: Julie Mezainis, Ashley Hanneken, and the Lamport Family!