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Action Alerts!
· Register for the Trek Across Maine for the American
Lung Association of Maine as a member of Community Bicycle
Center team. The Trek is returning to Belfast for the last day. Go to www.mainelung.org
to register. An informational meeting will be held in early February 2008.
· We need team sponsors for the CBC Charity Cycling Team. If you have leads or would like to donate to clothe and equip our team, contact Andy Greif at cbcofme@gwi.net or 282-9700.
· We will be hosting a music venue for CBC withJames Montgomery & Bruce Marshall at Biddeford City Theater on
February 14, 2008 (tentative). We need
sponsors to make this event happen.
Contact Andy Greif cbcofme@gwi.net
or 282-9700 if you have any leads for sponsors of if you need more information to
help us make this event happen. · We are in special need of BMX bicycles for kids to earn. As you are putting things away from the summer, please donate any unused bikes you might have. Stop by Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri from 2-5pm.
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Dear Andy,
Thank
you for taking the time to check out the first Community Bicycle
Center e-Newsletter. We will share with you news about our current
and planned program activities, action alert items, needs for support
(volunteers, financial, and gift-in-kind), and spotlights about volunteers,
sponsors, and kids. Our plan is to send
out the e-newsletter bi-monthly. Thank
you for your interest in helping the CBC become an essential program offering
life skills development opportunities for kids.
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New AmeriCorps*VISTA
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 Aaron
Lawton joined us in August; he will be with us for one
year and will focus on our capacity building needs and re-vitalizing Communities for
Children & Youth in Biddeford. Aaron will
help us secure financial and gifts-in-kind resources and craft our measurement
and evaluation plan. Aaron has been working to recruit more volunteers to work with the kids and
assist with various organizational development needs as well as improving our website. Go to the Volunteer page on the website to
explore how you can help us. |
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Building Bikes, Building Futures: Annual Campaign 2007
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In September we kicked off our first annual
appeal. We need contributions to continue our work with kids and address our
strategic development objectives - locating in a larger space closer to the
kids and hiring addition staff to enhance our programs. The Maine Department of
Transportation has contracted us to continue our bike safety education
programs. This support requires a local match of $21,000. Help us reach this
goal by contributing today! Go to our website under the Support Us section and
contribute through PayPal or better yet download the
Donor Form and mail your
donation check to the Community
Bicycle Center.
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Bike Monkeys Launch |
On October 3rd, eight kids began the fall session of our bike repair training program. They are joined by several
volunteers: our Board President Dean Meggison,
four home schooling students from Midcoast Maine, and the Biddeford Jobs for
Maine Graduates teacher Seth Benjamin.
Each student is learning how to completely disassemble a bike, clean and inspect
the parts, and rebuild it. The final product is given to someone they choose, who is in need
of a bike. Bike Monkeys graduates may be eligible for a Master Tool Kit
from Pedro's. Thank you to the City of Biddeford
for providing Community Development Block Grant funding for the Bike Monkeys
program.
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Volunteer Spotlight: Ralph LaRiviere
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Ralph showed up at our doorstep earlier this year with a trike in the
back of his truck. He had just built it in his home garage and wanted to show
it off to someone. Ever since, he has been volunteering on Tuesday afternoons to
help kids fix their own bikes or build one to earn. Ralph has taken on several
special projects; he fabricated the Bike Blender we used at the Saco Bay Criterium and the Biddeford
Chalk Walk to make banana-strawberry smoothies. Ralph has put together an electric bike for
another donor and will have his first recumbent finished by the end of the
week. Stop by the shop at 4:30 PM on Fridays to make
your own smoothie or milkshake with Ralph's creation. Sometimes the kids say they would be in trouble if they weren't at the CBC; Ralph says the same thing. Thank you Ralph for spending time with the kids. You
have shown them that if you dream something you can make it come true!
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Sponsor Spotlight: Bottom Feeder & Pedro's
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Carole
McCarty and Kate Flather of
Bottom-Feeder
dona ted their time, creativity, and skills to design our annual appeal letter,
envelopes, and donor card. Professional fundraisers have raved about our
design. They feel that it is unique, bold, and reflects the
determination we have for helping the Community Bicycle
Center grow. Thanks for
your part in helping us work toward exceeding our Annual Appe al goal of
$21,000. Jim Hale of Pedro's surprised us after the Trek Across Maine by showing up at the CBC with his
Pedro's van. Pedro's and their employees donated tools, bikes, gear, lubricants, and other bike
stuff to us. Pedro's has offered to explore ways to support a coalition of bike
related youth development programs in Maine.
Thank you, Pedro's, for your unsolicited support!
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Volunteers Needed
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Mentors are needed to work alongside kids during
our drop-in bike repair/earn-a-bike sessions. Drop-in sessions are Monday through Friday 2 - 5 PM except
Wednesdays for Bike Monkeys. All you need is enthusiasm for hanging
out with kids while working on bikes. Once we have a critical mass of new
volunteers we will offer training in basic bike repair and mentoring
best-practices. Sign-up now for a weekly or bi-weekly spot! Contact Aaron Lawton
(cbcvista@gwi.net or 207-282-9700) for
more volunteer information and check-out the Volunteer page on the CBC
website.
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Letter of Appreciation
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I think it's
so great that you work with the kids and teach them how to build and recycle
something that they can be proud of. It
gives them a skill and a sense of self-worth. And these kids will, in turn, teach
other children. So your skill and kindness goes way beyond the walls of the St. Louis Building. Besides, kids these days do not
know how to deconstruct and rebuild bikes. When we were younger, our parents did
not have the money to buy new bikes so we got hand me downs; we painted them,
changed tires, seats, etc. and voila, we had a new bike that all the kids in the
neighborhood were envious of, since they could not go out and buy one just
like it. It was truly a one of a kind bike. Hearing about what you do with the
kids has brought up so many great memories for my husband and myself...that's why we wanted to check with you first to see if
you need these bikes; if you don't, no hard feelings. I used to work for the House of St. Joseph (it was like a
free Goodwill for the needy) when it existed and we had to turn away
things all the time because of lack of space or because we had to choose the
nicer one over the not so nice one. People used to get so offended...so...like
I said...I understand.
See you soon,
The Demeules :-)
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