BE part of the BIG BIKE GIVE – give new life to your old bike.
1000 Bikes in 30 Days
For 30 days from April 14 – May 14 North Vancouver’s John Henry Bikes hopes to inspire the donation of 1000 old bikes. Called the BIG BIKE GIVE it will link people in Vancouver’s lower mainland, one of the richest areas in the world, to those in north eastern Uganda one of the poorest. There people have enormous spirit but little else. Unable to access medical care, markets and schools they often travel up to 20 kilometres by foot, for water. In Uganda a simple bicycle has the ultimate power to change lives – providing mobility, freedom, hope and the bridge from extreme poverty to a better life.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILlnardCEEU
John Henry Bikes owner Willie Cromack offers, “As cycling season kicks off we wanted to do something big and inspire others to do the same. Here bikes are used for pleasure and fitness, to strengthen family ties and build community. It’s a fun, healthful means of recreation. In the world’s poorest countries a bike can provide the way out – employment and access to health care and education. We’ve partnered with Bicycles for Humanity and committed to collecting 1000 old bikes in 30 days. These bikes along with bike supplies and tools will be loaded into a shipping container and sent to a community in north eastern Uganda. The bikes will be distributed and the container will become a Bicycle Empowerment Center (BEC) where bikes will be purchased, repaired and rebuilt providing a sustainable resource and employment opportunity for the community. The face of an elder who recently received a bike exploded in a huge grin as he said I feel like a chief with my bike…a young man now a trained bike mechanic and working in a BEC softly explained how grateful he was to be out of a gang to have hope. You could feel their words resonate in your heart.
In Canada over 1.5 million new bikes are purchased each year. Hundreds of thousands are out grown, discarded, left outside to rust, or in a garage to gather dust. The BIG BIKE GIVE is an opportunity for an old bike to provide a new beginning for someone a world away. An old bike may allow a child to get to school, a family to access food and water, a business to be established, communities to be built and lives to be changed. The donation of an old bike may play a big part in reversing the cycle of extreme poverty, a big legacy for an old bike and an owner. “Bike owners understand the power of their bike … the joy, the adventure, the experiences. A 1000 bikes in 30 days is doableâ€, Cromack adds a grin exploding across his face.
BIG BIKE GIVE collection – 1000 bikes in 30 Days
John Henry Bikes
400 Brooksbank Avenue
North Vancouver, BC, V7J2C2
Tel – 604-986-5534
Monday to Saturday 10 -6 / Sunday 11-5
Follow the John Henry Bikes and the BIG BIKE GIVE on Facebook.
BE part of the BIG BIKE GIVE
Give your old bike new LIFE!
1000 Bikes in 30 Days
April 14 – May 14, 2011
Create a bridge from extreme poverty to HOPE for people in north eastern Uganda.
Live to ride.
