Community Service and Biking question.

[BURCH]

My wife and I really want to do something to help out our community. I figured that if I could combine cycling with service that would be pretty cool. Any input or charities that you associate with would be great.

Not really looking for "Do your local MS150". Since we would rather work with people and have done those in the past. I would love to work with kids or help get/fix bikes for those who don't have many resources. I will do some research on my own, but I can come here and be a little lazy first, right?

And if it was a national organization, that would be great since we would obvisouly prefer to help out locally in South Western CT or New York.

Thanks,
BURCH

[Too Tall]

Call Mike Ridgeway and just start talking. He is an absolute saint and has dedicated himself to paying it forward. Somewhere in all this you'll find something that suits you. I'm not going to encourage you with all your charm and good looks to waste efforts on a packaged volunteer effort like an MS ride....why bother? Follow the money on one of those deals and you may re-consider.

http://www.dreamrideprojects.org/NIightmareFeatures.html

[SManning]

I run a program called Mountain Kids. It is run through our state mountain bike advocacy organization, the Michigan Mountain Biking Association. I had 7 events this year where I took kids out biking for the afternoon. It's a great way to give back to the community and get kids out on bikes. During one of my events last week; I had 2 kids that were deaf as well as 5 others that did not understand English very well. It was a great experience and the kids love it.

This is an article that appeared in my local paper about the program.

http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-5/112385585366700.xml&coll=2


More From The Ann Arbor News | Subscribe To The Ann Arbor News
'Mountain Kids' hit the trails Brighton rider shares her love of biking with inner-city students
Friday, August 12, 2005
BY JASON DEEGAN
News Staff Reporter
Whether she's riding, racing or teaching the sport to children, Manning is always on the move with the Michigan Mountain Biking Association.

Manning, a Brighton resident who teaches music at Davisburg Elementary in Holly, runs "Mountain Kids,'' an MMBA program that exposes inner-city children, ages 8-12, the joys of mountain biking.

This summer's seventh and final Mountain Kids event is set for Saturday at Addison Oaks, a 794-acre Oakland County-run park north of Rochester. Manning estimates that 250 children will have participated in the program by summer's end.

"I love the interaction with the kids, getting to watch their faces while they are out on the trail,'' Manning said. "Some kids are really scared. I try to encourage them. Some of them say this is the neatest thing they've ever done. It's fun listening to their stories.''

MMBA board member Jason Jones launched the program in 1998 after outdoor equipment retailer REI (Recreation Equipment Inc.) donated 10 kid-sized mountain bikes. Manning said South Lyon Cycle donated four more bikes recently, adding some new, much-needed equipment.

Jones, who lives in Dexter, said he modeled the program after Trips for Kids, a nonprofit formed in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1988 that exposes kids to mountain bike outings and environmental education.

"It has really exceeded my expectations,'' he said. "I was thinking when someone else takes it over, it might slip, but it's been one of the MMBA's most successful programs. We keep having more and more events and more and more demands. Sarah has done an excellent job.''

Manning and other MMBA volunteers drive a trailer loaded with bikes to parks throughout southeast Michigan, like Addison Oaks or the Island Lake Recreation Area, for clinics with youth organizations, like YMCA groups and girls scout troops.

The program starts off with an explanation of safety and the rules of the road (or in this case, the trails). Then, the kids ride. And ride some more.

Oakland County Parks recreation supervisor Derenda Howard said the clinic is the most popular portion of the "Wild Adventure'' outdoor camp she runs.

"It's been a great addition to our camp. We don't have the money to buy the bikes ourselves,'' she said. "A lot of the kids have experience riding in neighborhoods, but not a lot of them get out on the trails.''

Todd Scott, the MMBA's executive director, said Mountain Kids could expand to northern Michigan in the future.

"We are always trying to bring more youth to mountain biking,'' he said. "This is one great way of doing it. It's also great for the kids for fitness and getting outdoors and building future stewards of the sport.''

Jason Deegan can be reached at jdeegan@livingstoncommunitynews.com or at (810) 844-2012.

[spiderlake]

Great article!! Thanks for posting it!

[CNY rider]

I have gone to local elementary schools and given a talk about bicycle safety. The kids seem to enjoy it and all look psyched to go home and ride their bikes afterwards.

[darylb]

All good suggestions so far. I could add, contact your local bike safety advocacy organizations and your local MPO or City officials. There is lots to be done in the way of education and awareness and those folks are typically very welcoming when it comes to assistance.

We worked with our local MPO to become one of Bicycling's BikeTowns and have used that designation to bring a race to the downtown, apply for funding to place bike racks around and promote bicycle and pedestrian travel to downtown, they are doing a bicycle film festival on the side of a building tonight downtown, we have several awareness walks and runs coming up and hope to produce more events in our City to promote alternate transportation to one person, one car and bicycle safety for cyclist and drivers of cars.

The local shops can be very helpful in all of this as well. I fairly new here but was intoduced by Bill Bove and he is very active with these efforts here. (He has a shop in town with new jerseys on the way!)