Cyclists raise money & awareness about hunger

AUSTIN—As brisk wind from an unseasonable spring cold front whipped around them, cyclists with Bike Out Hunger stood on the south steps of the Texas Capitol, hearing from legislators who have worked on food policy initiatives to help more than 4.6 million Texans who are hungry.

More than 18.5 percent Texans are food insecure, meaning they don’t know where they will find their next meal. Texas has the third-highest food insecurity rate in the nation.

Lawmakers talked about how to get involved with weekend and summer feeding programs for school children.

“Unfortunately one in five Texas households has a difficulty in providing enough food for their family. Many of you are called to serve people in your community, and you being here today makes a real difference for all Texans, particularly for those who are in need,” said Todd Staples, commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture.

Challenged by legislator

Sen. Eddie Lucio (D-Brownsville) challenged the cyclists to see what they were doing through Bike Out Hunger as intertwined with their commitment to follow Christ and not turn away from doing what they can to end the problem of hunger in the state.

“I cannot separate my faith from my decision making, and I don’t think you can, either. Every day, we go about our lives wondering whether or not we will leave it better than we found it. And I think we can,” Lucio said.

The cyclists rode more than 170 miles in two days to get to the Capitol. Many of the 42 riders who participated at various points during the six-day ride were attempting to complete the entire 430-mile trek from The Woodlands to Arlington.

Their goal not only was to raise awareness, increase involvement and raise funds to fight hunger in Texas, but also to expose cyclists to anti-hunger efforts, learning how to make hunger advocacy part of their daily lives.

The riders stopped at a Mission Waco-sponsored breakfast early one morning before beginning the day’s ride. They interacted with hungry people and met the men, women and children who directly benefit from their efforts to raise money for the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering. 

“Today is the first day that I got to meet people who are benefiting from what we are doing,” said Mary Beall, member of The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson and the only woman who completed the entire ride.

“We had to get up at 5:45. My body is dying, and my body is hurting, and I did not want to do this because it was so early. Then I get here, and I meet these people, and I see why we are here,” she said. “It’s so worth it, and I’m ready to ride those 89 miles today.”

$20,000 for Mother’s Day Hunger Offering

Bike Out Hunger raised about $20,000 so far this year for the Hunger Offering through the six-day ride. It represents one part of an emphasis for Texas Baptists churches to raise $1 million for hunger efforts in one day through a special Mother’s Day offering. 

During the ride, cyclists used social media to communicate with their friends, family and co-workers about hunger issues in the state and ways they could give to make a difference.

For Tim Randolph, director of the Waco Regional Baptist Association, participating in Bike Out Hunger was a way to join his passion for cycling with helping others understand the opportunity and need to serve hungry people in the state.

Seeing needs from two wheels

“We live such isolated lives in our current culture where you can get in your car and drive to work and then go to your church and literally never encounter or get to know the name of a hungry person,” he said. “It’s very easy to think that this doesn’t exist, that this problem isn’t here.”

But through the ride and through the work he does each day, Randolph hopes that he enables others to see the needs around them and help in any way they can.

“We must talk about how to get our churches involved. I challenge every Texas Baptist to go do something,” he said. “Go get involved at a food pantry. Go serve a meal at the lunch program in the summer or help at a breakfast like this one at Mission Waco.

“It really will change your life to see what the other part of our community lives like and how we can be creatively and constructively engaged with them.”