Three OU students plan to bike across the country this summer to raise awareness of affordable housing in the United States.

The students will ride in support of Bike and Build, a non-profit organization that encourages college students ages 18 to 26 to bike 4,000 miles across the country to raise money and awareness for organizations such as Habitat for Humanity.

Brian Phillips, one of four trip leaders on his route, said there are eight routes across the country. Each route is approximately 4,000 miles long and has an average of 32 participants, said Phillips, psychology senior.

“Bike and Build is an experience of a lifetime because it is a lifelong commitment to community service,” Phillips said.

Phillips said approximately 255 college-aged people participate each summer. He said each participant must raise $4,000 to join.

Bike and Build has contributed $2.3 million to housing projects in the last seven years, according to the website. The participants from summer 2009 donated $660,000.

The team bikes an average of 75 miles per day for 11 weeks in the summer and members sleep in community centers and churches for free, he said. The team also volunteers at a Habitat project site once a week.

Phillips, who participated for the first time in 2009, said his team plans to stop in Colorado Springs, Colo., for a full week to work on a Habitat project.

“Last summer it was weird because you’re helping the affordable-housing cause, but you’re only on a job site for one day,” Phillips said. “This year I’ll actually feel like I’ll build something.”

Phillips said he never owned bike before he signed up.

“Riding a bike across the country sounds awesome and you’re doing it to help other people,” Phillips said. “I feel like I will definitely continue to give back whenever I can to the community because of this experience.”

Kathryn Vculek, accounting senior, said she learned about Bike and Build through Phillips and decided in September to participate this year.

“Anybody you talked to about doing it said it was an amazing and said they would do it again in a heartbeat, so I wanted to experience that,” Vculek said.

Vculek said she hoped other OU students would do some volunteer work after they see the Bike and Build’s participants’ drastic actions.

“If other students just like you are getting involved on such a drastic scale, why not get involved on one weekend?” Vculek said.

Vculek said she wanted to participate to get more involved in community service, have a physical challenge and make new friends.

“You meet 30 strangers when you arrive in Virginia, and by the time you arrive in Oregon, you’re family,” Vculek said.

Amy Hamilton, psychology senior, said she heard about Bike and Build when she met Phillips in a class in fall 2009.

“I asked him what he did over the summer,” Hamilton said. “He lifted up his sleeve to show his tan lines and said, ‘I just cycled across the country.’”

Hamilton said she had heard about people doing things like Bike and Build and thought it sounded crazy but cool. She said she loves doing activities outdoors but she had never really ridden a bike before.

“It was something I always wanted to do, but I never thought I would get the chance,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton said she took a spin class and took a few rides per week to train for the summer. She said Oklahoma is a good place to train because of the hills and high winds.

Hamilton said participants who finish the route get to keep their bikes.

“I can’t imagine how you can put so much time, effort and even money into something and then quit,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton said she wishes OU students knew Bike and Build existed and that there are students on campus trying to make a difference.

“It would be nice for more students to be educated about affordable housing because it’s such a big issue,” Hamilton said. “It’s something that everyone needs to know about.”

Bike and Build was founded in 2003 by Mark Bush who modeled the organization after the Habitat Bicycle Challenge at Yale, Phillips said.

For more information and to donate to specific riders, visit bikeandbuild.org.