Bike4Haiti Highlight: Laureen Hurt
Laureen on day 2 of the Bike4Haiti, by the Youghiogheny River.
Laureen Hurt rode the entire Great Allegheny Passage for the first time last year with the Bike4Haiti. She would encourage others to try the Bike4Haiti themselves: “The GAP is really beautiful and there are stops along the way—a physical challenge at any age is a great thing! I’ll never forget the people I did this ride with.”
As a cyclist and tenured traveler to Haiti, you would be hard pressed to find a better candidate for Haiti H2O’s Bike4Haiti event than Laureen. She studied French Creole in graduate school and was immediately interested in visiting. Her first trip to Haiti was in 2001 with St. Francis University in Loretto, PA: “You’re immediately struck by poverty and the conditions of infrastructure—how can this [level of poverty] be allowed?” she says. Laureen’s familiarity with Haiti H2O began through her church, Friendship Community Church, in Pittsburgh. Friendship is a long-time partner of Haiti H2O, and Laureen has traveled several times with groups led by Jeff and Sarah VanderMolen, co-founders of Haiti H2O. “I was able to observe the formation of Haiti H2O from the outset.” She and her daughter Alisson traveled to Bassin Caiman in Haiti in 2011, shortly after the 2010 earthquake. The partnership with local leaders in Bassin Caiman struck Laureen as being uniquely different, because of the respect between Americans and the community: “I appreciated the attitude that Jeff and Sarah brought…it wasn’t this sense of ‘we have everything, you have nothing, let us save you’”.
Not one to shy away from a challenge, she saw Haiti H2O’s Bike4Haiti event in 2022 as an opportunity to ride the GAP for a good cause. Although she is an avid biker, her previous rides had been shorter. “I’ve gone on long bike rides that go all day, but never a [multi-day] ride,” she says. She was particularly looking forward to riding with her daughter Alisson, who is also a keen cyclist. Laureen had done 65 miles of the GAP some years ago with her sister, but was eager to ride the whole trail. “The logistics of the ride were made very simple by Haiti H2O,” Laureen recalls. She did several training rides to prepare, including a 40-mile ride organized by Haiti H2O.
Lunch stop on the first day, with Julia Teufel, a student at the High School where Laureen teaches. They didn’t know each other until that day.
The second day was the most challenging. Another rider in their group was hearing a clicking noise and pedaled closer to the bigger group (with whom Laureen was riding) to ask them to listen as well. As she approached, she accidentally clipped Laureen’s tire and she went over the side, crashing the bike. Laureen only had scratches on her hands, but “the bike was not happy!” Fellow riders immediately came to her aid, and two of them had tools to adjust the derailleur, which had become twisted and was rubbing against the chain. Together, the group managed to get her to the next stop, but only her lower gears were working—not ideal for the 3rd day, which is almost entirely downhill. Thankfully, an extra bike in the group enabled Laureen to finish strong, and her own bike was taken back to Pittsburgh and quickly repaired.
Even the challenge of fundraising for her ride proved to be less onerous than expected. “I’m not very good at that sort of thing,” Laureen admits, “but I just wrote down a list of friends from graduate school who I thought might be interested—maybe 12—and a couple of family members. But, I put out that message with the GiveButter site, and within 30 minutes, someone had given $100!” Their fundraising goal was reached in 2 days. “I felt supported by friends on that ride.”
Laureen, right, with Sue Randall, at the end of the trail.
You can join Haiti H2O in supporting rural Haitians—without needing to know Haitian Creole, having gone to Haiti, or having a new bike. Join us for the 2023 Bike4Haiti, and don’t miss out on an unforgettable ride. You can find more information here.
