Dec 6 Update

Good evening,
I thought I'd post some news of this week's events.

First the disappointing news. Our grant proposal to the WVU Corporate Citizenship class was not accepted. It was our intent to use this money to purchase tools and begin setting up classes and developing outreach programs for school and youth groups. However, we are pursuing other funding sources and we intend to keep to our goals of service and education.

Now some exciting news. When we did the first Hurricane Bike Collection we were acting on our own. Since that time, communities around the country have gotten together to coordinate collection and transportation to get bikes to those still struggling to get basic transportation in Gulf Coast regions devastated by the storm. And we MADE A DIFFERENCE! I was talking to a woman here in town who has relatives in New Orleans. She went down to visit after the storm (in October) and said that bikes were everywhere! That was the only way to get around dependably. However, hard-hit areas like Biloxi, MS where the storm made landfall still need bikes. The Texas Bike Coalition of Austin, TX is arranging transportation from any place that can fill a freight container (4-500 bikes) to the Gulf Coast. We have announced that we are collecting bikes again (along with the Christmas collection for local charities that has been on-going) and will put our contribution together with Bike Pittsburgh to fill a container, to be sent in January.

And finally we have been offered a deal from major bike suppliers that will allow us to supply helmets and locks for $15/set, so we can send bikes out with these items. We are requesting that this amount be donated with each collected bike, and additional financial donations as well to cover the cost of parts and supplies.

Times and details for this weekend's work sessions (and another intro class) have been posted on the website. Check it out. Please RSVP to me to let me know if/when/how long you'll be coming.

Thanks