|
From the President
BIKES Club Grants
By Kristin Kinnamon
Thanks to
our successful McClinchy Mile Ride in 2007, BIKES Club of
Snohomish County is again able to donate money back to the
community in support of bike safety and education.
This year,
after looking at our healthy budget, members agreed at the May
meeting to donate $2,500 in a first round of grants this spring.
The grant requests exceeded $4,500. Though we often were not
able to offer the full amount requested, we based our decisions
on the reach and impact of the programs – how many people will
benefit and what they will learn or gain that supports safe
cycling.
Only one
request was completely tabled – for a memorial bench on the
Centennial Trail. Club members have supported this idea in the
past, but agreed we would not want to name a particular cyclist
or member but rather dedicate the memorial more broadly. BIKES
members Rod McDonald and Bill Higley have gathered information
on purchasing a bench, and we plan to discuss it at our
September meeting.
We
anticipate offering another series of grants in the fall, and
organizations that were not fully-funded this spring will be
welcome to re-apply.
The
following grant amounts were approved at our special June
meeting:
Christmas House:
$1,000 for bicycles and helmets that are distributed to low
income children during the holidays. They are collecting
donations early so they can seek the best deals on their
purchases. The non-profit organization serves more than 7,000
kids each year and last year they gave away 365 new bikes and
120 used bikes from Sharing Wheels. Christmas House is always
looking for volunteers to help during their “store” hours in
December.
|
|
Club supports books, rodeo, bikes & helmets for kids
Fire District 17,
Granite Falls: $500 to purchase bike helmets that are fitted and
distributed at the main fire station. This program usually
distributes about 150 helmets a year, but was not included in
the fire district budget in 2007.
Lynnwood
Senior Center: $350 to purchase helmets and a car bike rack and
other bike accessories to support a new cycling program
organized by BIKES Club member Debby Grant.
Cascade High School:
$250 to
update their collection of cycling-related books (their newest
cycling book is from 1993). We suggested they also consider
purchasing magazines or DVDs on bicycling with the funding. The
school has 1,800 students.
Lake
Stevens/Granite Falls Rotary: $200 to support their “Bikes for
Tikes” program which purchases bikes and helmets for low income
kids. We also gave them funding in 2006.
Everett Elks
Bike Rodeo: $200 to support a rodeo in September after school at
Garfield Elementary. They estimate 150 kids could participate.
In addition
to the above grants, BIKES Club has always donated $1 per rider
on McClinchy to the Bicycle Alliance of Washington, so we have
given about $500 to the BAW so far this year. Kristin requested
an additional $500 to support the BAW’s $20,000 lobbying program
in Olympia. Since we didn’t have money for that in this grant
cycle, we decided to get creative. See BAW Auction, page 5.
Members at
the meeting were president Bill Weber, treasurer Debby Grant and
Kristin Kinnamon.
Cascade Cyclefest July 22
At Warren G Magnuson Park, in Seattle. Activities include Family
Treasure Hunt & Bike Parade, Bike Polo , Street Sprint Racing,
food and beer garden, plus viewing the Tour de France on the Big
Screen, under the stars…Free!
1. |
