Snider Hall Bike-a-Thon

To pursue our Core Purpose of developing passionate followers of Jesus Christ with a heart to serve, it’s really important to stay on top of facilities and renovating or replacing buildings as necessary. The current ladies residence came to the College around 1970 as a mobile building that had been used for the building of the Tobin Lake dam. It badly needs an entire new roof, the support beams under the building are beginning to rot, and the floor itself is rotting in key areas. A building of this age with no foundation (it’s essentially glorified mobile home) and an uninsulated crawl space has many issues that arise with moisture, heating and energy consumption, rodents, plumbing, etc. We believe the time is now to replace this important building on campus. We believe that a new building will help us for decades to come as opposed to sinking 200-300K into major renovations of the current residence.

Construction is well underway with our new ladies residence - you can follow picture progress here. We’ve shared in Rivers newsletters and other correspondence since fall 2023 that we had a great start to this building project with an initial donation of $450,000.

Our initial estimates for a dormitory were in the $850,000-$900,000 range (October 2023 and February 2024), with the Board formally approving $1,000,000 to go toward the project in spring 2024. NBC had a modest amount in capital fund savings above and beyond the initial $450,000 donation (for other long-term capital projects), but from the beginning we have shared the hope and need to double the initial donation with matching gifts so as not to entirely use up all of our modest capital fund savings.

By mid to late February 2025, the College and Board determined that the finish cost of the residence is more likely to land in the 1.2 to 1.3 million range. A big part of that higher number is connected to the residence being classified as a commercial building, with engineering, permits, utility and services prep, and unanticipated fire and public health regulations pushing costs higher. Despite this, we have received assurances from many on the NBC Board (connected to construction) as well as advice outside of NBC, that we are still in a good place with overall cost on a building this size.

Being over our initial estimate reminds us we are dependent on the Lord to provide - and in reality we were just as dependent on him when we had “money in hand” to cover much of the initial lower estimate. We are trusting the Lord to provide an additional $350,000 to bring our matching donations to the level of the initial $450,000 donation. Raising $90,000 with a bike-a-thon would be a big boost toward reaching this goal.

As President of the College, I began wondering this winter if there was anything more specific I could do to help raise funds toward our ladies residence project. As we became aware over February that our finish cost would likely be higher than initially thought, I began to give more thought to this. I wondered, “maybe there is a way I can step toward a challenge unlike anything I’ve done before that will help us raise money for this residence!” The Snider Hall Bike-a-thon is the culmination of those thoughts. As I’m willing to put in countless hours to make this Bike-a-thon a reality, I hope you might consider pledging your support.

On May 2, I’ll embark a 300km bike ride to raise money for our new residence. I’ll ride 150k’s from our NBC campus to Prince Albert, and stay overnight there with one of NBC’s Board members. I’ll ride 150k’s back the next day (May 3) for a total of 300 kilometres. My rough estimate is that it might take me 7-8 hours to ride each way. I’m 47 years old, and this will be the most physically demanding thing I’ve ever done. I’m not a cyclist, and I’ve never rode a bike further than 50km - and that was 25 years ago. So I’m already training - I began on an exercise bike in mid February. Pray for my preparation.

Click here for a map of Jason’s planned route.

The exciting thing is, if only 300 people were willing to sponsor me for $1/km, that would raise $90,000 toward this project. I believe it’s worth the effort to do everything I can to help raise the funds necessary to use the Snider Hall ladies residence for this coming fall!

On May 2 and 3 would you join hands with me? Maybe you’d consider sponsoring me at a rate of $1/km, or maybe even 50 cents/km? Perhaps God’s blessed you and you can do $2 or $3 per km.

Other ways to fundraise or get involved:

• do your own bike-a-thon where you live and raise your own pledges, making up a distance to ride wherever you live (download a pledge sheet in the RESOURCES tab).
• riding with me on the bike-a-thon day for a portion of the trip to PA (or back), or if you’re crazy, maybe the whole way!? Moral support the second day might be especially valuable.

Click here to make a pledge toward Jason’s bike-a-thon.

• Download a printable PDF file with all this Snider Hall Bike-a-Thon information to email or share with your network.
• Download a pledge sheet here for doing your own bike-a-thon in your area.
• Jason’s route map.
• Jason’s NBC Bike-a-thon Facebook page.

Current help and involvement with the Snider Hall bike-a-thon:
ATLAS OUTDOORS Cycle and Recreation - advice & training direction, bike tune-up
LINDSAY ELFORD - resource vehicle/accompanying me during the bike trip
DEAN & LAURA BLOCK - overnight host in Prince Albert

Have an idea of how to practically help with the ride? Contact NBC or Jason with your proposal.