Missouri Cyclist Leads Nationwide Ride for Housing Ministry
A Southeast Missouri native is leading a group of 13 cyclists on a cross-country bicycle ride to raise awareness of a ministry that provides housing worldwide. “I felt that this was a call to ministry,” Neil Mullikin, originally from Bonne Terre, told the “Southeast Missourian.” “A cycling ministry.”
The cyclists are riding from Amelia Island, Fla., to Florence, Ore., to support the Fuller Center for Housing. Millard and Linda Fuller, who founded Habitat for Humanity in 1976, started the ministry in 2005. Its mission is to be “faith-driven and Christ-centered” as it works “to provide adequate shelter for all people in need worldwide.” It has raised nearly $7 million since its founding.
Personal connection
“I have realized that everything that (the ministry) was doing dealt with experiences that I have had in my life,” Mullikin aid. “I started to realize ‘Hey, wait a minute, I may be a perfect fit for this.’”
Mullikin got involved in the organization while living in Topeka. Nearly 30 people will join the group at various points of the journey, which goes through, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho and Oregon. The trip includes a half-dozen “build days” in which the group will stop in a community and spend a day doing construction work on one of the many homes that the organization is funding and building. In Missouri, these build days will include stops in Eldon and Warrensburg.
“We did some concrete work the other day in Mayfield,” Mullikin said. “Those are the times I am not used to doing concrete work, so my back is a little sore. Carrying sheetrock over our heads isn’t easy. The riders often say that they are ready to have a day off from the bikes to do construction work, and then they say, ‘I am ready to get back on my bike.’”
The organization organizes multiple rides annually in different parts of the country.
“What I love about this has been the people,” Millikin said. “I’ve ridden across the United States; this is my sixth time. When you go into a community, people will embrace you. You hear on the news about all the negativity, but when you actually talk to people, Americans are great. People are great.”
–Alan Goforth
