Students to bike across the state to support Unity

Chris Davenport had never taken a long bicycle trip, and what he knew about Maine geography came from a map.

Thom Morrissette did not even own a bike.

None of that daunted the two Unity College students as they undertook their own campaign to raise funds and call attention to the plight of the financially troubled school.

Their dream will meet the pavement on July 20 when the pair embarks on a 320-mile bicycle trek from Lubec to Gilead.

They face hills, summer traffic and the unknown. They have already battled indifference. But the underdog spirit that has brought the small college back from the brink of collapse runs strong in Morrissette and Davenport.

“When the college started different fund-raisers, I tried to think of ways I could help out on my own,” said Davenport, a junior from Maryland.

“It goes a little bit beyond the college to the environment, because that’s what the college stands for,” he said. “To me the outdoors is very special. That’s one of the reasons I came to Unity.”

While Davenport’s experience as a leisure bicyclist and former bike shop employee may not take him far, his interest in public relations could ultimately be more important.

Davenport, who is pursuing a major in “environmental communications” with an eye toward a career in fund raising and public relations for environmental causes, has spent most of his recent free time seeking sponsors and contacting media outlets. It has not all been easy.

He and Morrissette started out with a two-day, 250-mile automobile trip across downeast Maine, seeking equipment and donations from bicycle shops. They got two water bottles.

Since then, businesses large and small have chipped in to pay the bill for the trip and bring the pledge total to half the $2,000 goal. Unity College has added publicity assistance, and some college faculty members have made pledges for the journey.

Davenport’s bent for public relations may also help him out on the road, where he hopes to spend much of his time talking with people he meets along the way.

“We’re going to be ambassadors for the college,” he said. “If people see me and want to stop and talk, that’s great. I want to talk to as many people as I can — answer questions about Unity, or just chat.”

He should not have any problem finding people. The projected route will take the bikers from Lubec to Bucksport along Route 1, with stops in Jonesport, Franklin and Ellsworth. After an overnight stay at Unity to mark their midway point, they will continue west, with stops in Augusta and West Paris before reaching Gilead on July 26.

Davenport said that what he and Morrissett lack in experience, they will make up for in willpower and perseverance.

The trip will mark a turning point for Davenport, who was once so discouraged about Unity’s future that he applied to several other colleges as a transfer student. As supporters helped the college battle for accreditation, however, Davenport tossed out those applications.

“I’m sticking with Unity,” he said. “At the beginning of the summer I had very little hope. But I’ve seen it come a long way in a few months.”

Now, he said, it is his turn to go a long way in a few days.