I'm pedaling across the usa and would like to work with habitat for humanity and would like to pedal to different locations and work. I don't have much money however I have a tent and camping gear. I'm currently sitting in a motel resting in Phoenix. Could anyone email me or send a contact link for me to start working to help others.
Your question is a perfectly reasonable one, but how does this pertain to cycling? I mean, the way it looks there is nothing in the world that does not pertain to cycling as long as you happen to be riding a bicycle when you are doing it.
I'm new to this forum and this is my first post so...
This question may not be directly related to cycling but it is a perfectly legitimate one. While most people doing bike tours are doing just that, touring. There are a number of people, myself included, that are using bicycling as a means to a greater end (and have some fun in the process).
Personally, I'm planning an open-ended tour around the country. The main purpose of my tour is to help as many people as possible, whether it is volunteering at a soup kitchen or helping an old lady mow her grass. If things go well, I want to create a charity around this concept.
I have been thinking about ways to finance my journey as well. I own a computer service and am running a friend's tree service ATM as well. By the time I pay off all my debts I will be left with very little money to begin my journey. Therefore I've been looking for ways to finance my journey en route.
Here are some of the ideas I've had so far. The key, I think, is to concentrate on what you are good at.
1.) The suggestion of using day labor services is a pretty good one if you'll be in a city for a little while.
2.) If you're riding through more affluent areas, you can knock on doors and ask if they have any work that you can do for a few dollars. Such as; mowing the lawn, washing their cars, washing windows, cleaning gutters, fixing things, planting flowers, etc.
3.) You can stop at churches and let them know what you are doing. They might have some busy work for you to do for a few dollars.
4.) I plan on offering free computer tutoring lessons at retirement homes. While I will not be charging for these lessons, I will accept donations to keep my journey going. You could do something similar.
5.) I used to pass out flyers for my businesses (I drove around and put them in the newspaper boxes, not mailboxes because that's illegal). You can go to local businesses (restaurants and other small businesses) and offer to deliver flyers for them for a small fee. I plan on eventually placing a blog address on each flyer to steer people toward my blog and future charity.
6.) If you are truly doing this for charity, you can solicit donations. Walking around a mall or busy street or going door to door with a small can would work. There was a kid that went around with a can, asking for 1 penny to pay for his college education. Within a short period of time he was able to pay for his entire education. Just be very candid with people and explain, to anyone who will listen, exactly what you are trying to do.
7.) Walk into local small businesses and explain what you are trying to do. Ask them if they have any extra work that you can do for $20 or whatever you need. To avoid getting taken advantage of you should put a limit on the time that you are willing to work. For example, I would be willing to give a company a maximum of 4 hours of work for $20. You can change either of these numbers to reflect what you need, say, $50 for 8 hours of work or something like that.
8.) I thought about doing tree pruning to finance my journey. I'm still on the fence about it, because I'd have to carry a harness, rope and hand saw, which is a lot of weight. But 1 job can equal hundreds of dollars and would finance a few weeks of biking. I do, however, plan on doing some computer work along the way (which is also pretty high paying), but getting people to trust someone on a bike with no ties to the community, is going to be tough.
If you have a skill set that requires little equipment (or equipment you can rent) you can do something similar.
9.) If you volunteer at charitable organizations you can ask the people you are volunteering with if they know of anything you can do to make some money.
10.) Use sites like craigslist and advertise that you will be in the area and are willing to do odd jobs for cash.
11.) Contact some of the nation-wide temp services and see if they would have anything that would suit your needs. It seems like you may be staying in a city for a while to work with H4H so you may be able to pickup temp work for a few weeks.
I plan on leaving on a $20 bike I bought from Goodwill, with nothing but what I can fit in a backpack, a pop tent (the ones that you can setup in under 3 seconds), a check card and a little cash. I plan on camping out virtually every night and surviving on what I can get off the land (with the occasional trip to a fast food dollar menu
. I think I can survive off about $20/day give or take.
I won't be cycling exclusively, I imagine my bike will break and I'll have to do some hiking until I can find another used bike. I also plan to do some travel by raft, train or other means, but probably 90%+ by bike.
Your needs will, obviously, be a little different than mine, but you can probably adapt them to help in your situation. Please let me know if you have thought of other ideas.
Jack Trades
