Help on wheels

OTHELLO — Sometimes help comes in the strangest of ways. For some homeowners in need of repairs, it can come wearing an orange T-shirt and riding a bicycle. 

“We’re riding across the Unites States, 4,000 miles, raising funds and awareness and helping serve families cross the United States,” said Neil Mullikin, of Americus, Georgia, the leader of the Fuller Center Bike Adventure. 

The 22 riders were in Othello on June 4 to do some repairs on a local home, doing interior repairs, fixing the fence and working on the yard. The ride started May 28 in Seaside, on the Oregon Coast, Mullikin said, and will end Aug. 9 in Portland, Maine. 

“We have seven different stops on this trip, and we’ll stop for one day each,” Mullikin said. “Most of the projects will just be part of a bigger project. Usually we have enough work just to get by for a day.” 

Those day-long stops are surprisingly productive, Mullikin said. 

"I’ve seen bike teams do some remarkable things,” he said. “I’ve even seen them frame an entire house in one day.” 

The riders don’t carry all their tools and supplies on their backs; there’s a truck and trailer that follow along with them, Mullikin said.  

Heart of the Basin Habitat for Humanity was once active in Othello, but it dwindled away for lack of volunteers, Joe Cerrillo said. The remaining three members – Cerrillo, Mike Stevenson and Myra Walter – aligned with the Fuller Center for Housing, again using the name Heart of the Basin.  

The Fuller Center was founded by Millard and Linda Fuller, the original founders of Habitat for Humanity, as a grass-roots Christian ministry to build homes worldwide after a dispute with Habitat’s board of directors caused them to be ousted from the organization in 2005. The Heart of the Basin Fuller Center doesn’t have the resources to build homes from scratch, Stevenson said, but it can help people in need of home repairs or additions. 

The home the Fuller Center riders were working on was the first that Heart of the Basin Habitat for Humanity had built in Othello, back in 1998, for Maggie Villareal and her family. Villareal paid off the house after 20 years and still lives in it today, she said. 

The riders are of all ages and backgrounds. Seventy-three-year-old Gary Schroeder, of Galt, California, has been making Fuller Center rides for 10 years, he said. 

The riders raise funds in a variety of ways, Schroeder said; his is to announce on Facebook that he’s having a sale on “warm fuzzies.” The registration fee pays for the group’s expenses; the donations all go into the work they do on the homes. Their lodging is usually provided by churches along the route.  

“The Fuller Center is a very streamlined organization where 94 percent of the funds actually go to serve families,” he said. “We rely on our local partners to select the families because they know the communities.” 

Local churches help out with food and a place to sleep, Mullikin said. This year, Othello Christian Church put them up. 

“The churches, as the hands and feet of Christ, will come together and they love the opportunity to host,” he said. “Not everybody can be out here and build. Not everybody can write the check. But there’s always one part where you can be part of our journey. Maybe you can make a macaroni salad. Maybe you can offer a shower at your house. All these parts come together to make this event happen.” 

The Heart of the Basin Fuller Center welcomes volunteers and donations for future repair projects in the Othello area. More information is available at fullercenter.org/heart-of-the-basin. For information about up-coming Fuller Center bike trips, visit www.fullercenterbikeadventure.org, 

    Jeff Pickens of Perryville, Arkansas repairs a fence at a home in Othello.
  

    Heart of the Basin Fuller Center member Joe Cerrillo, left, stands with Maggie Villareal outside Villareal’s home in Othello, where Fuller Center volunteers were making repairs as part of a cross-country bike ride.
  

    Joanna Beugnon, left, of Atlanta, Georgia and Ellen Hanson of Cashton, Wisconsin stain a fence at a home in Othello where they stopped to do some repairs as part of the Fuller Center Bike Adventure.