Student club benefits from staff member’s mission ride
Monique Graf
Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Teaching student
Avondale College of Higher Education
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
He has done it again. Avondale’s director of student services has completed a 800-kilometre bicycle ride from the Gold Coast to Cooranbong to raise money for a mission club.
Chaplain Wayne French greets Kevin Judge on his return to college.
Credit: Colin Chuang.
About 70 staff members and students erupted in applause and cheers as Kevin Judge pushed toward Avondale College Seventh-day Adventist Church around 4 PM on Tuesday, October 8.
Despite battling temperatures of 37 degrees Celsius and strong headwinds, Kevin averaged 194 kilometres a day over four days. He had no support crew, simply riding “solo with a [10-kilogram] bag on the back,” although several magpies provided unwelcome company. “I have a passion for riding, so it was a blessing to do something that served a purpose,” says Kevin.
The ride raised $4500 for the One Mission Brazil and Philippines teams.
“We’re stoked at how far Kevin’s willing to go to support us,” says One Mission co-leader Joel Slade, who is also co-leading the Philippines team. He will use the money to help fund a nativity program for orphans living in the capital, Dumaguete. The team will also provide dinner for and give presents to the children “just to show them they’re loved and valued,” says Joel.
Trent Sperring is co-leading the Brazil team, which will work with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency to install 50 toilets in houses and villages in the Amazon. The money from Kevin’s ride will help fund the building products and the cost of transporting them into the villages by boat.
Kevin’s 1000-kilometre ride from Brisbane to Cooranbong this past year raised $20,000 for One Mission.