Outside of South Station, the song “Vertigo” by U2 blared from large concert speakers as a Boston Sports Clubs instructor shouted, “faster, faster,” to participants in ICycle 4, the stationary bike-a-thon and fundraiser for HomeStart, an organization dedicated to ending homelessness in the Boston area.
From 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, 100 participants biked in Dewey Square for one or more hours to raise a projected $30,000 for HomeStart. Boston Sports Clubs and Au Bon Pain sponsored the stationary bike marathon, providing bikes and hot drinks and food for participants.
“People raise $250 to ride for an hour,” said HomeStart Assistant Executive Director Naomi Sweitzer. “Each individual donates the amount themselves or they can get donations from friends or coworkers.”
HomeStart is a Boston-based non-profit agency helping hundreds of homeless individuals find housing each year.
“We are the realtors for the homeless,” Sweitzer said. “It costs the state about $40,000 a year to shelter a homeless family. It’s very traumatic. It’s an economic issue versus a human issue.”
Sweitzer said HomeStart performs a wide variety of services for the homeless of Boston.
“They are referred to us from shelters or they come off the streets and we help them find apartments,” she said. “We also help those who might become homeless keep their housing through our homelessness prevention program. Our whole mission is to end and prevent homelessness here in the Boston area.”
The stationary bike marathon caught many eyes as Bostonians exited the station.
“The idea is that we are doing this out in the cold and in the winter because there are a lot of people who don’t have their own homes and are unfortunately forced to be outside or sleeping in cars and so this is a way that we show our support for them and raise awareness around the issue of homelessness,” Sweitzer said.
Event organizer and participant Dana Hansen said the bike-a-thon was successful because of the attention it drew.
“I was really excited about it, I think it’s a really unique idea. People are really intrigued by it when they walk by. It’s kind of a spectacle,” she said. “Just imagine what it’s like if you don’t have a place to go to work or a place to go home. Today’s not even that cold. But still, after a while, it gets to you.”
Since the creation of ICycle 4 years ago, HomeStart has raised $150,000 with over 100 riders each year, according to the fundraiser’s website.
“I got to pay it forward and it’s a great way to do it,” said Laura Kobey, an ICycle participant for the past four years.
Kobey, who works at a law firm, said she witnesses the struggles of being homeless in a city every day.
“I see a lot of homelessness. It’s really sad and pathetic,” she said. “I’m trying to help people get into housing, get a job and a life and get out of the cold and the elements.”
HomeStart employee Ashley Clements said the biking marathon drew positive attention to the cause of homelessness.
“This is kind of a fun way of contributing money,” she said. “Aside for what it does for HomeStart, I think it also boosts morale in general. I think walking out of the subway and hearing blaring music is pretty fun.”
Seth Michaelson, who also works for HomeStart, said the fundraiser helps the organization eliminate some of the startup costs of moving off of the streets and into a home.
“This event helps our agency, helps with furniture, with moving-related costs, helps with first and last month’s rent, the kind of stuff that is really hard when you are coming from homelessness and you have to get into housing,” Michaelson said. “So we can work with them so that they can make their apartment feel like a home.”
Jesse Margolius, a Boston Sports Clubs instructor who has both biked and taught spin classes at the event, said any temporary physical discomfort is overshadowed by the good cause.
“It’s nice to challenge yourself physically and riding in the cold like this is also a mental thing,” he said. “Just riding for an hour, or three hours, some people are living in cars or are on the street 24 hours a day, so it’s not a big deal.”
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
