‘Missionaries’ cycle for six days, 600 miles to raise money for pregnancy resource centers

During 16 years of its existence, Biking for Babies has donated $2.48 million to pro-life work.

(LifeSiteNews) — Their task is daunting, and their goal, noble: Biker “missionaries” cycle a six-day, 600-mile journey in different places across the U.S. in an effort to fundraise for pregnancy centers to help save babies’ lives. “Biking for Babies” is unusual for a missionary group.

Young adults ages 18 to 39 enlist in a 600-mile cycling trek every summer to raise awareness and money for pregnancy resource centers (PRCs) as well as commit to prayer and receive spiritual, pro-life formation. Routes span cities in the Midwest and Northeast, culminating in a “Celebration of Life.” The national ride is meant to display sacrifice, perseverance, and hope via the missionaries, and for them to give pro-life witness along the way while also bringing others closer to Christ.

They ride an average of 120 miles per day at 15-20 mph, praying throughout their cycling day and presenting on the Biking for Babies mission at various locales on their route. Their work is essentially twofold, in the manner of classic missionaries — they contribute to practical help for pregnant mothers, but also pray and seek to grow in holiness, for the glory of God and in order to power their apostolate. Funding pregnancy resource centers is one of the most effective practical ways to help support struggling mothers as well as change the minds of mothers considering abortion, given their track record.

Ultrasounds and counseling to pregnant mothers are typically offered at PRCs, and when combined with pro-life counseling, ultrasounds often help convince women to choose life for their children. PRCs also provide material and practical assistance to mothers and their children, offering necessities like diapers and clothes, and offering parenting classes. The money raised by Biking for Babies also helps contribute to the formation of the biker “missionaries,” who “learn about the Gospel of Life through virtual small groups and educational and spiritual curriculum,” according to the group.

Missionaries partner with PRCs to learn about their services and share their stories nationwide to help promote their life-saving work and fire up their own zeal for their pro-life mission. The bikers also pray for these PRCs during their training and ride. Over the 16 years of its existence, Biking for Babies has donated $2.48 million to pro-life work, including by supporting 175 pregnancy centers.

Father Matthew Harrison from the Diocese of Charlotte, who is joining the bike trek this year, hopes that the witness of pro-lifers embarking on a grueling and “scary” 600-mile bike ride will help encourage mothers in need by showing them that “there are people and communities ready and willing to help them along their own journeys.” Fr. Harrison pointed out that the pro-life movement seeks to change the culture, and key to this is a vision that cherishes life.

“Many mothers who resort to abortion first find themselves in a place of isolation. They may experience hopelessness, shame, or confusion as to what the future may hold. I firmly believe that the solution to this will be found in changing culture to help mothers see the joy and beauty of the new life with which they have been entrusted,” he said on his fundraising page.

Biking for Babies was founded in 2009 when two young men, Mike Schaefer and Jimmy Becker, followed their passion to make supporting the pro-life movement more accessible to young people, Nikki Biese of Biking for Babies explained. At the time, the two young men were students at the University of Illinois-Champaign and were looking to find a tangible way to put their pro-life beliefs into action, she said. “This was, in part, a response to Saint John Paul II’s exhortation to the United States,” Biese previously told LifeSiteNews, quoting the late pontiff, “Woe to you if you do not succeed in defending life.”