Could you imagine biking close to 4,000 miles across the United States, and building houses for those in need along the way? 20 year old Linda Hexter, a WAHS graduate of 2013, is planning such a journey through Bike & Build, an organization that helps cyclists to raise money and awareness for affordable housing across the country. Hexter’s journey will begin in Portland, Maine, and will end 3,693 miles away in Santa Barbara, California. The entire trip will span two and a half months. Her route schedules her to assist in building 16 houses across the US, in the states of Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and California.

On her website (linked below), Hexter said she knew that she wanted to do something different after leaving college. “With Thanksgiving approaching, I knew that I would be asked several times the dreaded question, ‘So what grand plan do you have for after graduation?’ I knew that I didn’t want to go straight into a full time actuarial position. I’m not even old enough to drink. I’ll only be 20 once. Why waste this year in a cubicle? […]  I had three ideas for post-grad: 1) stay in shape 2) travel 3) help somebody somehow. These three keyword phrases led my Google search to Bike & Build within a matter of minutes.”

Hexter, who will be graduating from Loyola University in New Orleans this year, is looking forward to exploring new states, and exercising her passions: biking, helping others, and photography, to further her experience with the campaign for affordable housing. “I’m really looking forward to building 16 houses on this trip. I hold my faith through action, and I thoroughly enjoy hands-on service projects. I can’t wait to spend days in solidarity with the individuals whose lives we will change. I expect my life to be transformed by these people, and I’m looking forward to discovering exactly how that happens.” (Linda Hexter via www.bikeandbuild.org)

Linda is 98% through her goal of raising $4,500 for her trek. If you want to donate to her cause, or keep track of her trip, visit http://classic.bikeandbuild.org/rider/8826. Find out how to donate by mail below.

Q&A With Linda Hexter:

• How much time will you spend at each building site?

Here’s a useful link to answer that question: http://bikeandbuild.org/route/maine-to-santa-barbara/ As you can see, usually we just spend one full day at a build site, with the exception of Columbus, IN, where we will spend 2 days building.

• Do you know what type of work you will be doing? Will you do the same thing at every house?

We’ll be doing whatever the affordable housing organization that we are working with needs us to do. Sometimes we will be putting up walls and putting up roof tresses, but sometimes we will just be doing yard work or painting.

• Where will you stay while travelling, and while building? (Hotel, hostel, etc?)

We’ll be staying mostly at churches or host houses (parishioners that have volunteered). Sometimes we will be at a campground.

• What is the money that you are raising needed for? Is it to support your personal journey (food, etc) , or does it go towards supplies for your projects (roofing, etc)?

From the participant manual:

Q: What percentage of the funds that I raise will be donated to Bike & Build’s beneficiaries?

A: We cannot make any guarantees about how much will be used to cover the expenses of producing the trip. This depends on a couple of factors, among them: the number of participants on the trip, the amount of money that they raise, and our success at recruiting corporate sponsors and in-kind donations. It also depends on trip expenses that come up on the road, such as the price of fuel for the van, food for the riders, and any other expenses. We historically have donated around 40-50% of trip proceeds, which leaves about 15% used on admin, 40% used on programming costs and the remaining amount for fundraising and cash reserve. Please check out the Bike & Build website if you would like more information.

• Are you at all nervous for your trip?

A little bit, yes! I’ve been training a lot (about 55 miles per week, although recently more like 100), but Louisiana is completely and totally flat. I’ll need to get practice on hills by taking spin classes or coming back to the Blue Ridge Mountains to train before the trip. However, my excitement about this upcoming journey far surpasses any nervousness that I have.

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I’m almost done, and this article could really help me reach and surpass my goal! If I raise more than the requirement, I can choose an affordable housing organization to directly give the excess funds too, and I get entered in a raffle for awesome bike gear. If people want to donate by mail, they can make checks payable to Bike and Build with my name in the memo and send them to:

Bike & Build

6153 Ridge Ave

Philadelphia, PA 19128

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Good luck Linda!