Cycling Coast to Coast

Tell all your Boston-area friends!  As another fundraiser, Devon, Jess and I are organizing a bike swap on Saturday, May 3 at MIT.

What: Come buy, sell, or trade new and used bike gear (and bikes)
Where: Walker Memorial - Morss Hall, MIT
142 Memorial Drive, Cambridge
(http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg?selection=50&Buildings=go)
When: Saturday, May 3, 10am-2pm

Why: It’s a chance for you to sell some of your old gear that’s been lying around, or to pick up some bike gear for cheap.  Also, it’s for a great cause!

$5 general admission
$15 to sell (tables provided, setup from 9-10am)

Parking: There is limited street parking on Memorial Drive and Ames St.  Your best bet would be to park in the Hayward Lot (http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg?selection=P5&Parking=go) or in the Cambridge Center garages on Ames St. & Broadway (see http://web.mit.edu/facilities/transportation/parking/visitors/public_parking.html).

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I also came up with a cool design for a bike shirt that I’ll be screenprinting and selling at the swap.

I’ve fallen behind in my blog posting, because I’ve been very busy the last week. In a nutshell, classes started, I was gone from Thursday to Sunday for a fencing tournament at Duke University, my bike arrived, and I made and sold hundreds of truffles. I’ll post about my new bike later, but for now, let’s talk about chocolate.

When I decided to do Bike & Build last fall, two of my friends at MIT, Devon and Jess, also signed up for the same route, and we planned on doing a lot of fundraising together on campus. For our first fundraiser, we wanted to put a spin on the traditional bake sale. I love making desserts, so we came up with the idea of making and selling homemade truffles for Valentine’s Day.

We spent all last week making truffles. 1,100 of them. My hands smelled like chocolate for days. We have 8 flavors: raspberry, orange, peppermint, chai, Bailey’s Irish Cream, toffee, dark chocolate, and balsamic, and they’re all delicious.

We sold the truffles in a box of 3 for $5, and also offered to deliver them to any MIT affiliated living group (dorms, frats, sororities, etc.).

The lovely Jess, working booth.

 

A close-up of our sign. Felicia, who’s a student at MassArt, made it for us.

Felicia also made some awesome buttons for us to sell.

 

Jess, again.

Making change for a customer

 

The entire time we worked booth, we were busy making boxes and lids. I’m now very skilled at eyeballing a box and being able to fold a lid to fit it perfectly.

 

Our most popular flavor was chai, followed by Bailey’s. Both sold out on the second day.

 

The truffle sale was a lot of work, but it was also fun. The final result? We made a profit of $1,349.50!

In all my excitement over getting a bike (I placed my order with Zane’s yesterday, for a 56cm, red, Specialized Allez Elite Compact), I haven’t posted any updates about my fundraising efforts.

The fantastic news is that fundraising has been going great, and not only have I met my $5,500 goal, I’ve raised over $8,000–$8,245 to be exact. I can’t even begin to express my thanks to everyone who has donated. Also, Bike & Build told me that they will be sending out donation receipts in the next week, so if you’re waiting for a receipt for tax-deduction purposes, it’s on it’s way. A great big thanks to:

• The Soon Family
• Francis Chang
• Mike & Tonia Hsieh
• Audie & Susan Chang
• Amy Tong
• Stefanie Tong
• Eleanor Chang
• John Ting
• Madeline Tong
• Mona Chow
• Michael Tong
• Steve Leonard
• Tony Keng

Now that I’ve reached the fundraising goal, I’ll be focusing more on two other aspects of the trip: learning and becoming more involved in the affordable housing issues, and learning more about cycling and training for the trip.

When I first signed up for this trip, the $4,000 fundraising goal seemed a bit daunting. I never doubted that I would be able to make the goal; after all, hundred of Bike & Build participants have done it before me, but I never expected to raise so much, so quickly.

As of this post, I’ve raised $3,845. I’m absolutely amazed and so appreciative of everyone’s support for this trip and this cause. Since I’m already so close to meeting the required fundraising goal, I’m going to aim higher and set my goal at $5,500.

So far, I’ve only sent out fundraising letters to friends and family, and talked to people when I was home over Thanksgiving Break. For next semester, I’ve got lots of ideas for raising money on campus, such as a fundraising dinner and a truffle sale around Valentine’s Day.

Thanks again to all my supporters, including the following people who have contributed since my last post:

• Penny Chu
• David Au
• Qing Min Ciu
• Jean Zhou
• Susan Woo

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far. It was so exciting to log onto the Bike & Build site today and find out that I’m over halfway to my goal. Since my last update, I’ve received donations from:

• David & Ann Hayashi
• Luna Han
• Lydia Li
• Dr. Pamela Fong
• Dr. Patricia Soong
• Rosalyn Koo
• Bertha Jew
• Art Louie

I’ve also signed up to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity SF when I’m home over winter break. Their current project is 12 single-family homes on De Long Street in the Outer Mission neighborhood. If anyone else is going to be in town and would like to volunteer with me, you can sign up on their website here. I’m signed up for Thursday, January 3.

In other news, this is the last week of classes before finals. Everyone, myself included, is really stressed, and all that stands between me and freedom is 1 paper, 1 project, and 2 finals. I keep telling myself that I’m almost done, and just need to pull through another couple weeks before I get to go home.