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Showing posts with label Fuller Center Bicycle Adventure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fuller Center Bicycle Adventure. Show all posts

Thursday, February 6, 2020

Sebago Lakes Region Fuller Center for Housing will help seniors stay in their homes

Board members of the Sebago Lakes Region Fuller
Center for Housing.
By Elizabeth Richards

A bucket list bike ride has inspired the creation of a local chapter of a global nonprofit organization, The Fuller Center for Housing. Sebago Lakes Fuller Center for Housing is a collaboration between six partner organizations, with 12 founding board members.

Several years ago, Bill Turner created a bucket list, which included riding across the US on a bicycle. Looking for possible rides, he came across the Fuller Center Bike Adventure, where participants ride long distances and build or repair houses along the way. His first year out, he rode from San Francisco to Santa Fe via Salt Lake City, Turner said.

The following year, he rode from Portland, OR to Portland, ME, having what he called a “great, uplifting experience” riding 4,000 miles in ten weeks, with six build days along the route. When he returned in the fall, Faith Lutheran Church was undergoing a process to determine what mission they wanted to take on. He suggested launching a Fuller Center, since there were none north of New York.

https://elbowroombistro.com/Turner and Lorraine Glowczak, another member of the congregation, began making presentations to other faith-based organizations to see if they could garner interest in becoming a local covenant partner. The result was six organizations coming together: North Windham United Church of Christ, Faith Lutheran Church, Windham Hill United Church of Christ, Raymond Village Community Church, Unity Center for Spiritual Growth, and St. Joseph’s College.

The next summer, before Turner left for another five-week ride, the founders had a meeting to discuss
the steps involved in becoming a covenant partner. By the time he returned, the group had elected board officers. By fall, the group was up and running, with regular meetings and committees in place.

Board president Diane Dunton Bruni said the group came together quickly, establishing the chapter, writing by-laws and articles of incorporation, and creating committees to reach out to families in need and to find volunteers, all within six months. Now, they’re ready to spread the word about what they’re doing to the community.

https://www.egcu.org/auto“When Bill and Lorraine came and spoke at North Windham United Church of Christ, I knew immediately that I wanted to be involved,” Dunton Bruni said. She has a long history of non-profit
involvement, having worked with the Good Shepard Food Bank for many years. When she heard about the Fuller Center, she said, she knew that it was exactly what she’d been looking for.
Sebago Lakes Fuller Center for Housing will do repairs rather than building homes, at least initially, with a focus on helping older people remain in their homes.

“It is so important to have people be able to stay safely in their homes and to know that they don’t have to leave at a time that they just want to have the memories and feel comforted by what’s around them,” she said.

The Fuller Center for Housing was founded by Millard and Linda Fuller, who also founded Habitat for Humanity. “Millard Fuller talked a lot about hope and how hope is essential in life,” Dunton Bruni said. “What we are doing is we are giving hope.”

Founding members had a range of reasons for getting involved. Nancy Foran, Pastor of the Raymond Village Church, said she had led mission trips centered around housing rehabilitation in Tennessee and other parts of Maine. These experiences were one reason why she was interested in the Fuller Center, she said. “This is an opportunity to do something right in our neighborhood.”

The Lakes Region, she added, is a sort of “dead zone” when it comes to services. “To have an organization that is going to really focus on the Lakes Region, I think it will be great,” Foran said.
With many seniors living in old housing stock, there can be many problems with their homes. “I’m really hopeful that this organization can bridge some gaps there,” Foran said.

Reverend Pat Bessey of the Unity Center for Spiritual Growth said the group decided to focus in the
towns of Standish, Raymond and Windham because these areas don’t have the same level of support as other areas. “That’s where we felt that we could be the most effective,” she said.

Steve McFarland, Director of Career Development at St. Joseph’s College, said “The need is just incredibly obvious everywhere you go in the community.” There are many people unable to maintain their homes at the level they’d like to, he said. “We’ve got a lot of caring people in these communities that want to reach out and help neighbors in that way.”

The nonprofit aligns very well with the mission and values of St. Joseph’s College as well, McFarland said. “Community and compassion are the two values that I think it most closely connects to…I think it just very much aligns with who we are as an organization, and it gives us that opportunity to get out there and do it,” he said.
http://www.mwamconcerts.com/
Gwen Rogers of the Windham Hill United Church of Christ said the church was excited when they were approached about the Fuller Center. “Giving back to the segment of the population, the seniors who are trying to remain in their homes, was an untapped segment that I think we thought we could help with,” she said. “If you just drive around the roads of Windham and Raymond you see homes that you know need a little sprucing up, and people just need some help doing that.”

Bessey said that she saw getting involved as an opportunity to broaden their cooperation with other faith-based organizations. “Also, part of our mission is service and creating community. This fit that
criteria so well, because not only are we going to have an opportunity to do service through volunteering, but we’re also going to be creating community because we’ll be interacting with people from other organizations.”

Dunton Bruni said the organization will partner with town offices, churches in the area, and any other organizations that can help them find people in need of help.

Initial funding for the nonprofit came from each partner organization contributing a set amount, a matching contribution from the Fuller Center for Housing, and $5,000 raised from Turner’s most recent Fuller Center Bike Adventure. The group is also discussing having their own one-day bike ride around Sebago Lake in September to raise funds.

margebarker173@gmail.comOne of the things that is different about the Fuller Center, Turner said, is that some smaller renovation projects are done through their “Greater Blessings Program,” where recipients of the work commit to
paying back what is spent on their project over a time period they can afford, with no interest. In this way, the initial money raised can become a revolving fund for future projects, Turner said.

“Our mission is going to be simple,” Dunton Bruni said. “It’s giving hope to others, and carrying on the legacy of Millard Fuller and being able to help others feel safe in their homes and giving them dignity. It is done with an opportunity to pay it forward in a way that they can. When you have hope, then you look to the future.”

Friday, March 9, 2018

Changing lives while living a dream by Lorraine Glowczak

Turner poses in front of the Sierra Nevada range
William (Bill) Turner’s dream has been to bike coast to coast - across the U.S. to see the beauty this country offers close up, as well as meet its many people along the way. He has decided this is the year to make that dream come true. Turner will leave on Friday, June 1 from Portland, Oregon to travel 3,800 miles in two months and two weeks, arriving in Maine and the first, original Portland on Saturday, August 11.
 
Turner’s story, however, isn’t just about fulfilling a lifelong goal but in his effort to do so, he will help change the lives of those who face various disadvantages. Turner will participate in the Fuller Center Bicycle Adventure which raises funds for The Fuller Center for Housing. He intends to raise $16,600 for the construction of homes for families in Haiti, Puerto Rico and wherever else the need is greatest.

Turner, who is from Harrison and a member of Windham’s Faith Lutheran Church, will join a multitude of other adventure seekers and philanthropists as they peddle their bikes 75 miles per day, taking one day off for rest and down time. The bicyclists stay in churches, school gyms and other places that open their doors, providing their floors for a night of sleep on blow up mats. 

In addition to their nightly stopovers, the participants will stop on designated build-days to construct or repair homes along the way. There will be five build-days in this year’s 70-day cross country journey.

Although it is Turner’s first coast to coast trip, he participated in last year’s Fuller Center’s bicycle adventure, peddling 1700 miles from San Francisco, CA to Santa Fe, NM. “I had to see if it was something I truly could do and wanted to do,” Turner stated. “Not only did I discover that I could bike across the country but more importantly, I determined it was the most uplifting experience I’ve ever had, and I desire to be with these people again.”
http://www.windhampowersports.com/
On that 1700-mile journey last summer, Turner met his personal fundraising goal of $11,000 which was enough funds to build and provide two homes for two families in Haiti.

Last year’s bike trip also provided Turner an opportunity to stop for one build-day in the Southwest. “We repaired windows and worked on various other projects for an individual who had Spina Bifida,” Turner said. “We did things for him that he was unable to do for himself. All the tools needed were supplied for us and we did the work.”

When asked why he chose the Fuller Center to fulfill a bucket list item, Turner stated it was an organization that makes a concerted effort not to misuse donated funds, meeting the needs of the less fortunate instead. “They don’t waste money,” Turner began. “Most of the food on this trip is donated and they hire limited staff to fulfil administrative duties. There is complete transparency and 95 percent of the funds raised go toward housing. Also, there is no hard-sale attempts to convert people to Christianity. Although I am a Christian myself, I believe there are many paths to know God.”

http://windhamtheater.org/Briefly, The Fuller Center for Housing is a non-profit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry. The website states, “. . . we do not use the term Christian as a restrictive limitation of our approach. It is, in fact, just the opposite. Our supporters and volunteers do not have to be Christians, nor do our homeowner partners. We’ve built with Jewish and Muslim families in the United States, Hindus in India, Buddhists in Nepal. [We are] dedicated to eliminating poverty housing worldwide.”

The Fuller Center Bicycle Adventure changes lives, not only for those who are recipients of the Fuller Mission but those who ride and stop to help people along the way. “I have gained a bunch of new friends as a result of my participation last year,” explained Turner. “Of everything I have ever done in my life, this is a highpoint. If anyone has ever thought about doing something like this, I say ‘go for it.’”

To donate, go to Turner’s fundraising page at www.fullercenter.donorpages/2018BikeAdventure/WilliamTurner/ or send a check to The Fuller Center for Housing, Attention Bike Adventure, 701 S. MLK Jr. Blvd. Americus, GA 31719. Be sure to put “FCBA: Bill Turner” in the memo line.

To follow Turners bicycle adventure, go to his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/spinningpedalsforhomes.

For more information regarding The Fuller Center, visit their website at www.fullercenter.org.