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Habitat for Humanity: Man rides to help family

When Eric B. Johnson of Fairmont finishes the Habitat 500 bike tour this month, he will have pedaled a total of 5,000 miles raising money for the Faribault and Martin Counties Habitat for Humanity through pledges and donations.

“I’ve noticed it’s getting harder. I’m in my early 60s so I have to be more and more pro-active to be able to do it,” he said. The average age of a rider is 52, and there are high school and college students also participating.

“They believe so much, as I do, in Habitat for Humanity,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s involvement in the Habitat 500 stems from his commitment to the organization and its mission to provide stable housing for families in need, regardless of race or religion.

“I was on the board of directors, and you know how non-profits are. They’re impoverished. They’re broke,” he said. “The part I never wanted to do, like many people don’t want to do, is fundraise, but I was kind of intrigued when I heard about the ride.”

This year’s 26th annual Habitat 500 will mark a decade of participation for the local financial planner.

“I started 11 years ago, but I missed one year,” he said. “I’ve done it nine years so far so I’ve ridden 4,500 miles. If I make it through this ride, it’ll be an even 5,000.”

The 2018 trip runs from July 15-21 and follows a route starting at Becker and looping through Alexandria. Riders typically stay each night in high school gymnasiums along the route, sleeping on air mattresses, before rising at 5 a.m. to ride to a nearby church for breakfast before departing at 7 a.m. for about a 70 mile leg.

“It’s not a race in any way,” Johnson said. “There are fast riders, and there are slow riders, but they are some amazing people. I’ve been riding with a guy that was 79 years old.”

Riders try to finish a leg by 3 p.m., avoiding the hottest part of a summer day, but high temperatures are not the main deterrent in the ride.

“Heat is a big factor, but the biggest factor for a bicyclist is wind,” he said. “When you’ve got wind in your face for 30 miles, that is really, really tough. Hills can be a problem, too, but when you go up, you also get to come down.”

One day of the ride involves a 100-mile leg. Riders can opt to complete the leg or build on the “bike house,” a Habitat for Humanity home along the route. Johnson said some of the Habitat 500 riders, especially those from outside of Minnesota, designate their funds for the bike house which, in effect, pays for the house each year.

Minnesota’s Habitat 500 is limited to 130 bicycles, a small number compared to Iowa’s RAGBRAI which runs about 10,000 participants each day.

“But it (Habitat 500) is a huge fundraiser each year, even though they limit it to 130 bicyclists because of the logistics of a 500-mile route for a moving caravan. It averages about one-third of a million dollars annually,” Johnson said.

Locally, he said, people have been generous with pledges and donations when they learn of his commitment to the ride, especially when they know the money he raises will stay in Faribault and Martin counties.

“I usually raise about $3,000 a year, but I’d love to raise a lot more than that,” he said. He also would like to see additional people from the area participating in the Habitat 500.

“What I’m riding for is this family,” Johnson said, pointing to a photo of Ashley Arcos and her seven children who currently are living a two-bedroom trailer. The fact that Johnson does not personally know the family does not dampen his commitment to provide safe housing for them.

“Obviously, this is a family in need, and they need a pretty good sized house,” he said.

Fortunately, a house at 313 N. Orient St. in Fairmont was donated to Habitat.

“This was a house that, if nothing was done within a couple of years, it would be a tear-down,” Johnson said. “It was donated to Habitat, and we got a new roof on it. Inside, it’s been taken down to the studs. Electrical has been updated. Plumbing has been updated.”

What hasn’t been done is the exterior and interior, and volunteers and funds are needed for that.

Johnson stresses that Habitat for Humanity is not a charity because the house isn’t an outright gift to the family.

“I’m not for just giving people things, but this is a hand-up, not a hand-out,” he said. “We’ll refurbish a house, but they’ll be paying a mortgage. They have to put in several hundred hours of sweat equity, and they also have to take classes on how to maintain a home and the finances of a home. The mom works full time because you have to have an income to qualify.”

In addition to assistance with the build, Habitat for Humanity provides a no-interest mortgage and designs the home to be energy-efficient for low long-term costs to the new homeowner.

The Arcos family will be in Johnson’s thoughts as he pedals away in the Habitat 500, but he has found another benefit to the bike ride.

“It’s a different route every year,” he said. “It’s kind of cool, the things you get to see. I now know a lot of back roads in Minnesota.”

For more information about the Habitat 500 or to pledge to Johnson’s fundraising campaign, contact him at (507) 236-1456 or email at ecjohn@frontiernet.net.

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