Bicycling down to the border

The Plains/Paradise United Methodist Church has a new pastor in town, but you may have missed him. After arriving from the Philadelphia area to settle in the Plains/Paradise community last week, Pastor Thomas Hall hit the road once more, but this time by bicycle.

The Plains/Paradise United Methodist Church has a new pastor in town, but you may have missed him. After arriving from the Philadelphia area to settle in the Plains/Paradise community last week, Pastor Thomas Hall hit the road once more, but this time by bicycle.

Last week, Hall said a quick farewell to his new home and started pedaling towards Billings to attend the United Methodist Church's Yellowstone Annual Conference, which takes place June 10. From Billings, he will embark on a 2,100-mile journey to the U.S./Mexico border.

His mission, which Hall has deemed "biking on purpose," is meant to raise money for Hope Village, which is located near Johannesburg in South Africa. The money raised will go towards building houses for children orphaned by the HIV-AIDS pandemic with an ultimate goal of creating a sustainable economy in that area.

"Two years ago, I met Meyer and Louise, two young adults from the University of Johannesburg who had this huge vision to create a sustainable economy among some of the poorest people on earth. When Meyer and Louise came to our church I caught the vision," said Hall as to how he came to be involved with the Hope Village project.

Raising money for a cause is nothing new for Hall. For the past three summers, Hall has raised support for a variety of organizations including the YMCA, a public library and a non-profit group that addresses the problem of underage drinking among high school students called Communities that Care.

This summer, his mission is clear and devoted solely to Hope Village. Support for his bike ride has already begun to grow and the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania has recently jumped on board to assist the project.

"People are becoming aware that the answer to Africa's poverty is not throwing money at the problem, but creating a sustainable economy in which they can improve themselves economically," said Hall.

As people are slowly starting to financially back the project, Hall rides to raise additional support. Riding from Billings to the U.S./Mexico border, Hall will cover approximately 70 to 100 miles of road per day. His journey will take him to Broadus (Rt. 212) and then due south past Gillette, Wyom., then east to Custer, South Dakota through the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to Route 83. Hall will then take Route 83 through Neb., Kans., the panhandle of Oklah., and through Tex. to Del Rio on the U.S./Mexican border.

Through his bike ride south, Hall will spread the word on this mission by asking folks along his journey to make a difference by donating money in order for houses to be built and orphaned children to be parented, while helping the surrogate parents to begin to earn a sustainable income through training and developing new skill sets.

"Very little has been done (in South Africa) to address the ten million children that have been orphaned by the pandemic of HIV-AIDS," said Hall. "Hope Village builds homes and places responsible adults as house parents in them, brings in a minimum of five orphaned kids and helps the adults develop their own business enterprises, even loaning money through a micro-lending organization."

Although Hall does not yet know how much money has been raised, he said he would be happy with $9,000. All donations go through a United Methodist Church in Pennsylvania since there is no easy way to get money directly funneled to Hope Village in South Africa.

For more information about Hope Village, please visit http://www.hopevillage.co.za/home.html.

Hall will bike alone, without a support vehicle, in his "sit-down" bike, a recumbent that stretches out over eight feet long and weighs nearly 40 pounds.

"I feel like I'm towing a trailer house down the road," said Hall. "It's like sitting in a lawn chair minus the ice tea."

The selected bike for the cross country tour carries a stove, air mattress, food, toiletries, clothes, sleeping bag, a kindle reader and fountain pen, which are held together by bungee cords. Hall anticipates finishing his bike ride to the border by the middle of July, but said there are outside variables such as illness, bike repairs and weather that could prolong the trip.

Once his mission is completed, Hall is set to return to Sanders County to take up his new post as pastor. By trade, Hall is a church planter, meaning he goes into places where a new congregation can be useful to a community and forms a group of interested people. Once the congregation is healthy and strong, he plants somewhere else.

"At Plains and Paradise, we bring marketplace ministry to two congregations that have a great history. Melded together, a stronger sense of being outside the box and a strong sense of the past, I suspect that we'll make great partners in ministry," said Hall.

To follow Hall's journey to the border, please visit his blog at http://bentbikerblogger.blogspot.com.

Questions on this story can be directed to Danielle Switalski at reporter@VP-MI.com.