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Cornellians Complete Cross-Country Service Bike Trip

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Several Cornellians biked across the country this past summer through Bike & Build, a nonprofit that organizes cross-country bicycle trips in which participants raise money and work towards creating affordable housing opportunities nationwide. Among the Cornellian participants of Bike & Build’s numerous trips were Sarah Dellett ’18, Rachel Zhao ’15 and Jayant Mukhopadhaya ’15. Dellet biked from Connecticut to California for over two months, traversing an average of 70 miles a day for a total of 4,072 miles, according to a Bike & Build press release. Throughout the 75 day trip, Dellett said she participated in projects that included cleaning up neighborhood parks, painting houses and building roofs for homes. While 58 days were devoted to biking, Dellett said she spent 15 days of the trip volunteering with organizations like Habitat for Humanity and Rebuilding Together in order to build affordable homes for families.

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Students Helping Students Fund: Under the Microscope

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The Student Assembly will vote on a plan to finance the proposed Anabel’s Grocery by withdrawing $360,000 from the Students Helping Students fund at its meeting next Thursday. However, some have questioned whether this fund, usually reserved for emergencies, is an appropriate source of revenue for the store. Originally created by the S.A. in 1985, SHS is a fund managed by the Student Assembly Financial Aid Review Committee. According to Gretchen Ryan ’97, associate director of financial aid and student employment, SHS was created “to assist registered Cornell undergraduate students with emergency funding and funding for summer internship expenses that they otherwise could not afford.”

Despite the criticism, Matthew Stefanko ’16, S.A. vice president of finance and also co-founder of Anabel’s Grocery, said that food insecurity, which Anabel’s Grocery is aiming to combat, is an example of what the SHS exists to fund. “Food is the third highest expenditure of students after tuition and rent,” Stefanko said.