Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Jerry Nelson of Asheville left on a cross-country bicycle trip earlier this month to raise money for a homeless program here. Jerry’s a character – outspoken in his desire to help the homeless, as well as his desire to keep smoking while on his ride. I wrote about his trip over at Mountain Xpress. He’s now well on his way.
Here’s a recent entry from his blog:
A negative 12 MPH today. Confused? Well, my speedometer on the bike was saying I was rolling down the road at 8 miles per hour. The wind was in my face at 20 mph, so that means a negative 12 miles per hour, right? Turned a 40 mile trip into something more like 50 plus.
The bike ran great, but the wind! It was almost as bad as the portion of the last trip when I was in the upper midwest.
But it came to an end when I finally got to Albany.
While I was waiting on Bill and Jo to get back from a concert, I was able to hook up with a new Facebook friend, Anthony.
Anthony took time out of his Sunday evening to show this ol’ boy around town and bought me dinner at an all-you-can-eat-buffet. And no, this time I didn’t get thrown out for eating too much.
Anthony is a recruiter here for Darton college, so that keeps him on the road alot. When he’s not recruiting, he’s working with 1st Presbyterian Church here to feed and work with the homeless. Albany has a population of about 80,000 and is counting about 700 homeless. So he has his hands full, but it seems like the town is pulling together to meet the needs of the homeless.
It was nice to run into someone like Anthony who shares a passion about working with this population, so keep him and his work in your prayers.
