by Dennis Dalman
This July, the annual “BikeBuildHome500” bicycle ride will take place in central Minnesota, and new riders are more than welcome to ride along and to help raise funds for “Habitat for Humanity.”
The five-day leisurely bicycle ride (not a bike race) will take place from July 8-13, and each of those days the rides will start and finish at the St. John’s Prep School campus in Collegeville. Each rider will cover 500 kilometers during the five-day period. And each day will involve two of 10 total scenic biking routes in central Minnesota. Rest-and-refreshment stops will be in the cities of Avon, Cold Spring, Richmond, Holdingford, Little Falls (Lindbergh State Park and Camp Ripley), St. Stephen, St. Nicholas and Marty. St. Joseph is also along one of the routes.
Up to 85 riders, many from far and wide, will participate in the event. Most of the riders will stay overnight in the dormitories there on the St. John’s Prep School campus. Each bike rider has a list of donors, businesses, organizations and individuals who support Habitat for Humanity’s housing mission. There is also a need for non-biking volunteers who can transport bikers, assist bikers at the rest stops along the routes and help in any emergency if one should happen.
Bikers will usually start out each day at 7 a.m. on one of the two designated routes (one of them longer, one of them shorter) and return to the prep-school campus at about 5:30 p.m.
For more information or how to join or donate, visit the following website: https://bikebuildhome500.org or call Gene Boysen, a St. Joseph resident, at 320-260-1801.
Boyson, an avid runner and bike rider, is happy the annual event will happen in central Minnesota this July.
“It’s like bringing so many people right into our own backyard,” he told the Newsleaders during a recent interview. “And people can take part by only riding one of the five days or part of a day. Tired? We’ll come and pick you up. . . This is not an event solely for athletes. It’s an event for anyone who believes in the cause of affordable housing for all.”
For 31 years veterinary Dr. Gene Boysen has been the owner/operator of Boysen Animal Hospital in Waite Park and is deeply committed to Habitat for Humanity and its volunteers’ tireless work in building homes or refurbishing older ones for people in need of housing. Boysen has biked in the event for the past eight years. Last July, he rode in the event when it was held in southwest Wisconsin during which $177,000 was raised for Habitat, and $5,000 of that amount was raised by Boysen that was specifically designated for Central Minnesota Habitat for Humanity. Boysen is the coordinator who chose this year’s 10 bike routes for the event.
He noted the funds raised in July will help build a Habitat home that will be built by volunteers and “SabreCon” high-school construction students at a lot in Sartell located at 1809 Trentwood Drive. Boysen said that particular house project is estimated to cost about $250,000.
Background
Boysen shared details of how the Habitat fund-raising bike rides started in Minnesota. In 2002, it was announced former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalyn, were about to visit Winnipeg, Canada to help build a Habitat home there. The Carters were both passionately committed to building Habitat homes all over the United States and the world.
Some bicyclists in the Twin Cities heard about the Winnipeg project and decided to bike all the way to Winnipeg (about 500 miles) to meet the Carters and to do some hands-on building tasks themselves. And so they did. Their trip was so satisfying that similar fundraising trips soon became an annual tradition sponsored by Habitat for Humanity. Later, groups of bicyclists joined together and assumed sole responsibility for planning and doing the bike trips. They dubbed the event “Habitat 500” and later “BikeBuildHome500.” Different names, same good cause.
Loretta Ida Anderson
Boysen noted one of the five days of the biking routes will be named in honor of Loretta Ida Anderson, a St. Cloud woman who died March 18 at age 79 in Quiet Oaks Hospice. Anderson, a world adventurer, supported and participated in Habitat200 biking events and was a tireless supporter and hands-on volunteer of Habitat for Humanity and a volunteer for it locally and on four international Habitat trips, which she herself led. Anderson was also deeply involved in other good social/civic causes. She worked as a surgical technician for 30 years at the St. Cloud Hospital and later as a medical social worker for years.
“Loretta was a long-time participant (in the Habitat rides),” Boysen said, “and she inspired a lot of people.”
These are bicyclists writing a message of welcome for residents of a new house the cyclists helped build. They are just a few of the bicyclists who took part in the “BikeBuildHome500” biking fundraiser last July in southwest Wisconsin.
A biker glides through along a path through a rock cut area of southwest Wisconsin during last July’s “BikeBuildHome500” fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity. Close to $177,000 was raised by nearly 100 bicyclists, including veterinarian Dr. Gene Boysen of St. Joseph.
The late Ida Anderson of St. Cloud, who died March 18,. was a passionate supporter of Habitat for Humanity and so many other good community causes. She will be honored during the upcoming Habitat for Humanity bicycle fundraising event April 20-26 in central Minnesota.
