Tuesday, August 19, 2008

In dollars and cents

The impact of our Bicycle Adventure goes far beyond the funds we have raised - we built relationships, planted seeds, put our hands to work on building or renovating houses, and had a wonderful time.

But the fundraising component is so very important because you can't build homes without money! Therefore, early in the planning process I published one of our goals as raising $100,000, and I was blessed to be able to find an anonymous donor who gave $15,000 so that along with the registration fees all the costs of the trip would be covered. As a result, every dollar we raised is going straight towards The Fuller Center's mission. (The $15k for covering costs is not included in the donation figures below.)

Now that I am back in the office, I have been seeing firsthand the donations both large and small that are just continuing to flow in here almost daily. As of August 18th, with $50,000 in property donated in the Louisville, KY area through Steve Hale's leg of the ride and $84,058.50 raised in cash from everyone's efforts, I am proud to say we have already raised $134,058.50 - greatly surpassing our goal! As a team we feel overwhelmed by such an outpouring.


How we will use it:


Our bicycle trip is excited to announce that we will be able to sponsor an entire house in El Salvador for the up-coming Millard and Linda Fuller Blitz Build. 300 volunteers from around the country and the world will convene in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador, to build 16 homes in a week! I will get to be there, and it would be great if some of you reading this will join me and all these others. Learn more about it and register here.

Our riders have also chosen to give substantially to the Fuller Center projects in Nepal, Peru, Sri Lanka, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, sponsoring an entire house in some of those nations.


In the U.S., funds will be sent out to 14 Fuller Center Covenant Partners across 11 states. The biggest winners are our project in the Chattahoochee Valley of Alabama/Georgia and our project in Louisville, Kentucky. Our ride will result in funding for an entire major home rehab in both of these cities with a family in need.

The riders are also choosing to give amounts great and small to the projects in Potomac Highlands, WV; St. Petersburg, FL; Shreveport, LA; Springfield, KY; Pottawattamie County, IA; Dallas, TX; Webster Parish, LA; Oklahoma City, OK; Cusseta, GA; Americus, GA; San Diego, CA; and Benton Harbor, MI. The funds will either go towards a new build or be enough for more moderate home rehab projects in these places.


Lastly, many of the riders chose to designate all or some of their proceeds "where most needed." Although less glamorous, we are so grateful for these funds that will be used in so many desperately needed ways to the benefit of this ministry in the days to come.

And so the ripples from our journey continue to go out and be a blessing to others. Thank you, thank you to everyone who made this possible!! I look ahead with eager anticipation to the adventures and blessings that may yet unfold.


Ryan Iafigliola

Another result from our trip: a simple, decent place to live in Nepal.


A family in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will finally have a solid and healthy place to call home because of an entire home sponsorship made possible through Tony's ride.


A girl posing by some of the temporary housing thousands of families have been forced to live in after the earthquake near Lima in 2007. We are helping sponsor a home in Peru.


Sri Lanka continues to rebuild following the tsunami. The Fuller Center is helping.


We are also contributing to Chattahoochee Valley Fuller Center in Lanett and Valley, AL and West Point, Georgia. Our trip will contribute to this and 13 other Fuller Center projects across the United States.

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