wfn.org | Assembly visitors travel 500 fund-raising miles by bicycle

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Note #5959 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

24-June-2000
GA00014

	Assembly visitors travel 500 fund-raising miles by bicycle

	Portola Valley Presbyterians peddle for Habitat

	by Jerry L. Van Marter

LONG BEACH, June 24 -- Scenic Highway 1 meanders for nearly 3,000 miles
along the spectacular Pacific coast from northwest tip of Washington State
to the tip of the Baja Peninsula in southern Mexico. Along the rugged
California coast it follows the undulating contours of the Pacific Ocean. 
It is a beautiful drive.

	Traversing the 500-mile stretch between San Francisco and Long Beach on a
bicycle is unfathomable.

	But three hardy cyclists from Portola Valley Presbyterian Church in San
Francisco Presbytery have done just than in the last week.  The Rev. Mark
Goodman-Morris, pastor of the Portola Valley Church, Lois DuBois, an elder,
and Dan Russell, a deacon, and the driver of their supply van, Joe
Khirallah, actually pedaled a little over 300 of those miles.

	"You've got three 45-50 year olds, so we took out the dangerous and freeway
parts," Goodman-Morris admitted after their arrival at the Long Beach
Convention Center early Saturday morning.

	Their trip is the kickoff for a $1.2 million fundraising effort to benefit
Habitat for Humanity in the area south of San Francisco where housing costs
have skyrocketed due to the economic boom in Silicon Valley.  Almost half
that amount has been raised in advance gifts.

	"We've prospered greatly from the prosperity of the electronics industry
here," Goodman-Morris explained, "and we're asking our members and friends
to consider the value of their homes and give accordingly.  We want to raise
issues that will hopefully restore some economic balance to our region and
world."

	In September, the first six units of a 36-unit Habitat development will be
constructed in East Redwood City, an impoverished city 25 miles south of San
Francisco.  The development will also include a community center, which the
Portola Valley Church will finance.  "We're excited about this development
because it is creating a community," Goodman-Morris said.  "We are also
supplying money for staff for the community center so that these homes can
become a real community."

	The bicycle trek was inspired, Goodman-Morris said, by Stan George, now 93.
 George, who currently lives at Westminster Gardens in nearby Duarte with
his wife, Helen, bought a Harley-Davidson motorcycle after he retired and
for 15 years rode it from his home to wherever General Assembly was meeting
to raise money for Habitat.  "He raised $5 million for Habitat over the
years," Goodman-Morris said, "and our trip is dedicated to him."

	Russell said the Portola Valley congregation was very supportive of their
trek, which began right after church June 18.  "Lots of people were giving
us tips on how to stay healthy and safe," he said.  "We have a parish nurse
who went through her entire first aid bag with us...but I knew if we had a
problem, I was heading for the E.R."

	Some church folk, DuBois added, rode the first couple of miles with the
intrepid trio to help send them off.  The riders had cellular telephones
with them to stay in contact with loved ones, but they stopped working early
on.  "It was kind of nice," DuBois said.  "We kind of had to let go of
everything else and just reconnect with the earth."

	"Yes," agreed Goodman-Morris.  "We saw California very differently."

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