Hello All!
My name is Matt Vanderpool, but I usually go by Vandy. This spring Iâll be graduating with a Masters in Biomedical Engineering
from the University of Michigan where I also received a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2006. I was born and raised Grosse
Pointe, MI, a suburb just north of Detroit, but have called Ann Arbor, MI, home for the last 5 years.
After five years of college and 2 degrees I'll finally enter the real world on August 6th as a Mechanical Design Engineer at
Minneapolis, MN, based Medtronic Inc., a bio-medical device company. In the ~ 3 months I have
between graduation and the start of work I've made some big plans. The first is to visit Europe, the second is to bike across the country
to raise money for affordable housing! I'll be riding 3,464 miles from Manteo, NC to San Diego, CA, over nine weeks, with weekly breaks
to build affordable housing units in the towns we travel through. I'm doing this trip with other college age folks from around the country
through an organization called Bike & Build I set this website up to help me raise money for affordable housing,
through solicitation of donations for my trip, spread awareness of the affordable housing cause, and to keep my donors informed and up-to-date
on how the ride and fundraising process is going. Please check out the information below and consider making a donation!
Cheers,
-Vandy
mattvan@umich.edu
p.s. I'll be posting to this blog often,
especially once the trip starts
so check back for updates!
Bike & Build organizers have changed our trip schedule. We will now be spending a week doing a BILTZ BUILD in Maryville, TN, instead of Colorado Springs, CO. This changes the number of days spent in CO but I'm not going to change the fundraising levels as I've already sent out information and letters. So now Colorado is a platinum state because it's so darn cool. E-mail me with any questions or comments!
I found this video on the Bike & Build website yesterday. If this doesn't make you excited I don't know what will!