Bike tours helps build homes

When Susie Rice first presented the idea of a scenic bike tour to raise funds for the Kootenai Valley Partners Habitat for Humanity to her fellow board members they weren’t sold on it.

“They said ‘Yea right Susie. People are going to pay money to come to Libby, Montana to ride bikes,’” Rice said.

The local organization had been desperately searching for ways to raise money so they could build their first home in 1996. It wasn’t just a pie-in-the-sky scheme, Rice had been doing some homework with her husband on whether such an event would be fruitful.

“I had been on bike tours and I was on the back of the tandem so I’m talking with people as we’re riding,” Rice said.

She had been asking fellow riders if there was a bike tour in the Troy and Libby area if they would come. The response was positive.

Now in its 21st year, Rice’s proposed bike tour was given the catchy acronym STOKR by her husband Greg and is not only a scenic tour on lightly trafficked roads, but the funds raised from the event allow Habitat for Humanity to build a home for a deserving family on odd-numbered years. On April 11 at 3 p.m., Habitat for Humanity will have a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the organization’s 11th home at 517 W. First Street in Libby.

Habitat for Humanity builds, renovates and repairs decent and affordable housing with people who are living in inadequate housing and are unable to secure suitable housing by conventional means.

Two years ago, mother of three, Shannon Hopfinger, saw an announcement on television about a Habitat for Humanity orientation and decided to attend. She filled out the application and affixed a letter explaining how much a new home would mean to her family. Soon thereafter, Shannon and her husband of 20 years, Justin, moved their family into the new house built by Habitat for Humanity.

“My husband really deserved it. He’s worked so hard his whole life to support our family. The kids now have a yard to run around in and the neighbors are really nice,” Hopfinger said.

She also said the house is so well insulated the family’s electric bill is now a third of what it was in the rental home they used to live in.

“It’s nice. We’re not living paycheck to paycheck anymore and we’re able to save a little money now,” Hopfinger said.

With the new Habitat home being built next door to the Hopfingers, Shannon said her husband is looking forward to working on the project.

Rice said finding volunteers in Libby hasn’t been an issue.

“People are really on board. I instill in the volunteers that the people that make the cookies for the event are just as important as the people pounding the nails,” she said. “I’m so lucky as an organizer that these people are so faithful.”

She said she always asks volunteers if they would like to sign up for the same job they performed the previous year. “I know I would be in deep trouble if I gave their job away to someone else. I tell them they can say no if they want, but they rarely do,” Rice said.

Rice said this year a guest construction superintendent will manage the building of the new home. Pete Pemberton is a paid employee for the Las Cruces, N.M., Habitat for Humanity Chapter, but is volunteering his time in Libby from May until August when the temperature is too hot for building in the southwest to head up the project.

Also coming from Las Cruces is Dyana Todd. Todd is a coordinator for a unique group of Habitat for Humanity workers known as Care-A-Vanners. The group of mostly retired folk volunteer to help build at various Habitat sites around the country. “Some are snowbirds who work all season long and some make stops along their vacation routes to help with projects,” Todd said.

Todd has been part of the group for five years. “I tried it out and fell in love with it. At the end of the day you get to see what you’ve accomplished. It’s really, really satisfying work,” she said.

Todd was in Libby four years ago to work on a home and said it’s her second favorite Habitat for Humanity affiliate aside from the Las Cruces location she’s currently based in. “I love Libby. It’s a great affiliate with a very dedicated group,” she said. “It just amazes me that a community the size of Libby can accomplish what they’ve been able to. There are not many 100 percent volunteer affiliates out there,” Todd said.

Two groups of Care-A-Vanners will come to Libby in May, each consisting of five RVs. One will arrive on May 10 and work for two weeks then the second group will arrive on May 24.

“We had five spots available and they filled up right away so we opened up another spot two weeks after that,” Rice said. “We always go out of our way to be typical Libby. We’re welcoming, enthusiastic and we make sure we feed them well,” she said.

The hospitality doesn’t go unnoticed with group members sharing stories about their experiences working in different areas.

One of the people working on the home will be this year’s Habitat for Humanity home recipient Jennifer Holm and her three-year old daughter Jazmine. Holm is required to put in 200 sweat-equity hours on her new home, which she will happily do.

“We’ve got to go down and hammer and paint and do whatever they need us to do,” Holm said.

The new home is part of a string of favorable circumstances that have come Holm’s way since she moved back to Libby. “We lived in North Carolina for a while and it was rough. We came back here and tried to start over. I got a new job and a new house, things are looking up and it’s awesome,” Holm said.

Things for STOKR continue to look up also. This year’s tour will host 450 riders, up from 98 the inaugural year, and had to turn away 62 riders who will get first dibs for next year’s race.

“For me at first it was like having a party and inviting 98 friends to come and bike,” Rice said. “And since then it’s just grown. And it’s only grown by word of mouth, we don’t do any advertising anymore.”

With more than 20 STOKR riders dedicating time to put in the floor for the habitat home and the Care-A-Vanners putting on the roof and installing windows there will then be ample opportunity for local volunteers to help with interior projects.

The scenic bicycle tour will be held May 9 and 10 and begins in the parking lot of the Libby Area Chamber of Commerce building on Highway 2.