Biking to end poverty
Riders from the Sea To Sea biking mission will be making a stop in Truro
A group of 50 bicyclists from all over Canada and the U.S. will be stopping in Truro Monday as part of their cross-Canada bike tour.
The riders will be spending a night at the John Calvin Christian Reformed Church before finishing up a nine-week cross-country trip from British Columbia to Halifax as part of the Sea To Sea fundraising mission.
Sea To Sea is a bicycling tour which takes members of the Christian Reformed Church of North America from coast to coast in an effort to raise awareness and money to end poverty.
“They are ordinary churchgoers from all over just getting out there to raise money to end poverty,” said Brian Dexter, who is running media relations for the group.
“There was a total of 135 riders when we began, and we have 50 bicyclists going the whole way. As they go along, they hand out cards that say ‘end poverty’ on them to get people more involved in their communities to help antipoverty measures.”
The tour kicked off in White Rock, B.C. on June 26, took the riders through Canada and parts of the U.S. and will finish things off at the Lawrencetown Beach Provincial Park on Tuesday.
Spanning a distance of 6,759 km, the trip is almost double the distance covered by the Tour de France.
“There are some experienced riders in the tour, but there are also a lot of newbies as well. For these people to ride this distance in nine weeks is an extraordinary accomplishment,” said Dexter.
In order to participate in the
trip, each rider had to raise a certain amount of money through fundraising, with riders interested in doing the entire trip were required to raise $12,000 each. The tour has raised over $1.5 million already.
Since their first ride in 2005, the Sea To Sea tour has raised over $7 million, which goes to two anti-poverty ministries to fund anti-poverty missions around the world.
“The money goes to World Renew and Partners Worldwide,” said Dexter.
“They do practical stuff all over the world. For instance, they’re training 10,000 farmers in Kenya on how to plant crops better. The money also goes toward food and disaster relief for poverty stricken communities, even here in Canada.”
While the riders have already held fundraisers to secure the money needed to participate in the trip, the tour is still accepting donations from anyone who wants to support the cause.
For more information on the tour or to donate, visit seatosea. org.
“there are some experienced riders in the tour, but there are also a lot of newbies as well. For these people to ride this distance in nine weeks is an extraordinary accomplishment.”
Brian Dexter