We all deserve a 'home'

Derrick Thiel is one of 29 "Bike & Build" volunteers who pedaled through the region this week to raise money for affordable housing. He is a secondyear studio art major at the University of Virginia.

I am always up for fun and doing new and creative things, which is why I was inherently drawn to Bike & Build. I found out about it from a fellow rower whose enthusiasm for rowing and life is only paralleled by her enthusiasm for Bike & Build.

I chose to dedicate this summer to raising awareness of affordable housing because it is a cause I truly believe in. My experience from my previous housing trips has taught me the importance of "home." Home is a place that fosters friendship, caring, and strong intra-family bonding. Home is a place to grow and learn.

All of us have met people who couldn't afford homes and were forced to live two to three families to a small trailer or very small apartment. They were hard-working Americans and deserved homes.

Over the past years I have done several affordable housing trips or general home improvement trips for the less fortunate. I went to Florida and helped build homes for migrant workers who would otherwise live out of vans.

My favorite trip thus far was my trip to Thailand, where we worked with Akha tribes people of the northern mountain ranges. The group I was a part of helped lay concrete pathways in an orphanage replacing the dirt pathways that became too muddy to traverse in the rainy season. Over the past six years I have also done a fair share of Habitat for Humanity work in my local area.

I am so excited about experiencing all that our country has to offer and what I can reciprocate, with other people who are willing to serve and raise awareness for such an important cause.

We can make a big difference in this world if each of us resolves to make a small change in someone else's life.