SANDPOINT — Bike and Build riders made their annual stop in Sandpoint this week to help out Bonner Homeless Transitions with painting, moving furniture and other assorted tasks.

For the past two years, riders have come through town to help out at the Blue Haven transitional home in Sandpoint. This year, the group helped out at BHT's Trestle Creek property on Thursday.

"It's always amazing to have them come," Tamie Martinsen, BHT program manager, said of the Bike and Build riders. "They are always so eager to help and do jobs that maybe other people don't necessarily want to do. And they get so much done in such a short period of time. We are really grateful they are here another year." 

The 26 riders started their journey with a rear-wheel dip in the Atlantic Ocean in Portsmouth, N.H., on June 10 and are nearing the end of their journey, which will come to a close in on Aug. 25 with a front-wheel dip in the Pacific Ocean in Bellingham, Wash. The riders are from all across the United States, as well as Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada. The northern route riders are one of four teams making their way across the country this summer.

"The purpose of the trip is to support affordable housing organizations around the country," said Bike and Build rider Justin Konicek from Philadelphia, Penn.

Bike and Build is a nonprofit that sponsors cross-country bike trips to benefit affordable housing, so each build requires projects taken on across the country to involve affordable housing in one way or another. Many of the builds are Habitat for Humanity or other nationwide organizations, so Konicek said it is a "common misconception" that Bike and Build is a branch of Habitat for Humanity, of which it is not.

"We try to get some Habitat for Humanity builds in, but also we seek to work with as many local organizations as possible," Konicek said. "It's great to be working with Bonner Homeless Transitions as a group that knows this area so well, and directly impacts the needs of this area."

Of the 13 builds the team scheduled along their route, Trestle Creek was number 12. Their final build of the trip will be in Omak, Wash.

As a prerequisite to join the trip, each rider is responsible for raising a minimum of $5,000. The northern route team raised a total of $146,000 before the trip started. They have received some additional donations along the way as well, Konicek said. The group has received 30 grant requests from organizations across the country and, after reviewing the grants, the team will decide where they want to allocate the money they raised.

While in town, the team is hosted by the First Presbyterian Church, and mission chairman Dave Pietz said the church is happy to offer the group a place to stay and provide meals. The church has hosted the Bike and Build teams from previous years as well.

"Great, great group of kids," Pietz said of this year's team.

The church will feed them breakfast today before the riders points their wheels west and move on to the next build.

The team helped out at Trestle Creek this year rather than Blue Haven because, through a partnership between BHT and the Bonner Community Housing Agency, the Trestle Creek property is being converted to single-family rental houses for individuals who make less than 80 percent of the area median income. The homes on the property have been under remodel, with one nearly ready for the first renter.

Bonner Homeless Transitions opened the Trestle Creek Friendship Center in 2000. It housed a total of four families and four single women at any given time. The Trestle Creek program shut down a year ago after the HUD announced it would no longer be providing funding in Idaho — a loss of about $200,000 a year for Bonner Homeless Transitions.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.