Written by: Mark Major
I’m often asked that question so let me answer it here. The short of it: just a whim. The long of it: we were on the FCBA 2013 Summer ride in Moore, OK. That year a series of tornados destroyed the area one month before, so they were experiencing overwhelming need as well as support. Unfortunately the two rarely intersect perfectly, so volunteer labor gets it done.
A portion of us were assigned to cleaning up the demolition of a particular “home”. It was more like a salad mix of the neighborhood, but as we removed rubble a story of a family was revealed, and it seemed personal. A month before a family lived here, and one couldn’t rummage through their ruins without thinking of their suffering that same day.
I lifted a sheet of broken drywall when this crushed rubber duck’s blinking blue eyes saw daylight again. Our eyes met, we had a moment…
Mallard Fuller is the name, inspired of course by Millard Fuller- founder of Habitat for Humanity and Fuller Center for Housing. From that day on we rode a lot of miles to Vancouver – trip’s end. We joined the ride the next year, and the next, and then in 2016 Mallard went off on his own, hitching a ride with Sue Pratt- West to East coasts. We ride again tomorrow, and God willing…
So for four years Mallard has ridden with FCBA, with and without me. In the future I intend to send him along with a donation to a rider who will humor me by giving him a lift. Let’s see how far this little duck can go!
