Human Race

WHEELED UP: About 200 bicyclists will pedal into Jersey City, N.J., Aug. 30, marking the end of a cross-country bike tour designed to raise awareness and money to fight poverty. The Sea to Sea Bike Tour, organized by the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC), began in Seattle, Wash., on June 30 and has raised more than $1.8 million dollars due to the hard work of participants like Lynn Verros, a 41-year-old bookkeeper from Knoxville, Iowa. Verros is one of 124 biking all 3,881 miles, and she told WORLD that while the trip is physically rigorous—the group travels an average of 72 miles a day and sleeps in tents at night—she sees it as a unique opportunity "to empathize with people who live with discomfort every day." Proceeds from the event benefit several CRC programs, other churches, and parachurch programs that help the poor.