wfn.org | Bikers raise money for world missions

[BethAH@mbm.org]

January 3, 2001
Beth Hawn
Communications Coordinator
Mennonite Board of Missions
phone (219) 294-7523
fax (219) 294-8669
<www.MBM.org>

January 3, 2001

Bikers help raise money for world missions

ELKHART, Ind. (MBM) – For some, the word “biker” brings to mind
images of tattooed Harley-Davidson owners who “live to ride and
ride to live.”  September’s Bike Shenandoah participants,
however, rode their bicycles to raise money for world missions –
so that other people can live fuller, happier lives.

Bike Shenandoah is the inspiration of John Kreider, development
associate for Mennonite Board of Missions.  “I was playing with
the idea of how to raise money for world missions in an
interesting, exciting way, a way that would involve the whole
family.  I wanted to have fun, get excited,” he said.

The result?  A sponsored bike ride through Virginia’s Shenandoah
Valley, its proceeds distributed equally among MBM, Mennonite
Central Committee and Virginia Mennonite Board of Missions.

Kreider called several groups of bikers in November 1997 and
generated enough enthusiasm for the project to launch the first
Bike Shenandoah in September 1998.  One hundred six people rode
that year, raising $19,200.  Two years and three races later,
this year’s 159 riders raised $24,000.

Kreider encouraged cyclists to find sponsors to pledge a certain
dollar amount per mile ridden – or to sponsor themselves.  The
money raised was then distributed to the three organizations “to
use however it is needed most,” he said.  “We don’t try to
dictate how the money is used.”

Bike Shenandoah has a web site, and Kreider publicized the event
in several Mennonite publications and the Virginia conference
newsletter.  He also sent information to all congregations in
Virginia conference, and to Christopher Dock, Jamestown and
Lancaster Mennonite High Schools in Pennsylvania, and Eastern
Mennonite High School, Eastern Mennonite University and James
Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va.  Many local Harrisonburg
businesses also sponsored Bike Shenandoah, some giving as much as
$5,000 to help cover event costs.

According to Kreider, the ride “is open to anyone who feels that
this is a project they’d like to support; anyone is free to
ride.”  The oldest rider was in his 70s; the youngest was 6 years
old.  While some participants were experienced riders
anticipating a biking challenge, many were families with children
or retirees.

“We try to keep it a family affair,” Kreider said.  “We encourage
people to ride as a family.”  To accommodate the youngest, oldest
and less-than-athletic participants as well as those interested
in a long-distance ride, the event had a five-mile route, a
15-mile route, and a 100-mile route.

Most chose to ride the five- and 15-mile courses, although 16
participants did tackle the 100-mile route.  Glendon Heatwole, a
“Century Rider” veteran, has ridden the 100-mile Bike Shenandoah
course every year.  “This was another good ride,” he said.  “You
end up contributing to a great cause, and the whole event
provides opportunity for interaction with people you wouldn’t
normally see.”

For Joe Shenk, who biked the 15-mile route, the event provided an
opportunity to do something fun with a lot of people doing the
same thing.  “It’s a way for all kinds of people to participate,”
he said.  “Biking takes a minimum of investment, the training is
fun, and all ages can do it.  I’m the bald-headed guy in the
crowd.”

Pastor of Weavers Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, Shenk, 62, is
a long-distance athlete who “tries to do something long-distance
every fall.”  In addition to Bike Shenandoah, he also ran the New
York marathon.  “[The bike ride] was something that benefits
missions,” he said, “and you have the exhilaration of riding
great downhills – and the grind of a couple of uphills. It’s a
day with nothing to think about but your ride and the beautiful
country you’re riding in – and the dinner waiting for you at the
end.”

When those uphill Shenandoah grinds became tiring, riders did
have “watering holes,” and a “sag” wagon kept track of their
progress.  Kreider wanted to connect local Virginia conference
churches to the event, and several set up rest stops along the
routes, offering the riders food, water, and a place to get their
second winds.  “Some of the churches competed to see who could
put out the best food,” Heatwole said.

Kreider sees the Bike Shenandoah project as a way to connect not
only with individual churches, but with the Mennonite Church as a
whole.  “The bottom line is that as the church moves closer and
closer to merging, the mission boards of the Mennonite Church
must work together,” he said.  “One reason to raise money for all
three [agencies] is that it could be a way of doing world
missions in the future.”

Kreider is looking to the future with Bike Shenandoah.  “This is
a cooperative thing, and we’re breaking virgin soil in helping it
to happen,” he said.  “We hope to see this project increase each
year, and conferences all over North America pick it up.  We feel
that it has merit and that it’s time to move this idea into the
broader church.”

* * *
Rachel Lewis for MBM news