Trio to hit the road to end hunger

SANDPOINT — For Sandpoint teacher William “Mac” Hollan, riding his bike for a good cause is something he’d do in a heartbeat — charity or not.

Hollan, along with two friends, will attempt to ride from Sandpoint to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, this summer to raise funds for students in the Sandpoint area.

For Hollan, the ride is nothing new.

“Long distance adventures like this have been a large part of my life since college,” Hollan said. “I did a southbound hike of The Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia. This trip was 2,187 miles of hiking, and the beginning of a decade of adventures.”

The upcoming ride, called “The Point to Bay” ride, is completely self-funded by the trio — with no support vehicle and everything carried on their bikes — so that “every penny donated goes straight to the kids.”

That way, he said they can ensure more kids are helped by the Sandpoint Backpack Program, which is operated through the Bonner Community Food Center and provides backpacks full of food for 175 students for who might otherwise eat little, if at all, over the weekend.

He’ll leave Sandpoint on June 17 and estimates it will take six and a half weeks to complete.

“We’ll be doing 80 miles a day, six days a week, with one to relax,” said Hollan, who will also travel with his friends Jordan Achilli of New York and Gabe Dawson from Ashland, Ore.

“These trips are an important part of my life,” Hollan said. “These are the types of things I would be doing whether or not for charity. For this reason, I feel it is important that I pay my own way and allow people to give with the confidence that their money is going where it should be, and use the nature of the ride to gain awareness for my chosen causes.”

His first ride came in 2005.

“It was a solo 4,200-mile cross country ride on The Transamerican Route that benefited The Brenner Children’s Hospital of Winston-Salem, N.C.”

He raised $53,000 on “A Ride for the Kids.”

The ride for the students in Sandpoint got started when a student in one of his classes came to school hungry.

“She spent the entire morning staring at the clock waiting for lunch,” Hollan said. “A fellow teacher introduced me to the program and I knew right away what was my next ride.

Hollan is in the final process of completing his K-8 teaching certification, and will be student teaching at Farmin-Stidwell Elementary in Sandpoint in the fall.

“In subbing around the district and during two semesters of teacher training, I have seen firsthand the effects of our recent economy,” Hollan said. “And the tough economy of our area in general on my students.”

Several fundraisers are planned before Hollan and friends head north to Alaska. The first is a raffle/auction and beer release in late May or early June at MickDuff’s, where the brewery is naming a beer after the ride — Point to Bay Pale Ale — and donating a large portion of sales from the party to the cause. The second is a pancake feed and community ride the weekend before the mid-June departure.

Hollan’s goal is to raise $25,000 for the school, and estimates it will take $50,000 to cover the entire district.

“I don’t only want to fund this coming school year completely,” Hollan said, “but to begin an endowment that can eradicate this program for years to come.”

To learn more about the ride, visit www.pointtobay.com.