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You Can Help Distribute Bikes to Orphans in Ghana, India, Nepal and Vietnam

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

Dear Friends:

There are 27 million slaves in the world today, many of them children. For kids rescued from slavery, their journey toward independence and healing is arduous. This year, 88bikes honors the heroism of these children by launching a multi-country endowment.  In early 2010, 88bikes will travel to Ghana, India, Nepal and Vietnam, endowing orphanages, ashrams, centers and schools sheltering children rescued from human trafficking. The Moment of Happy will occur in January, 2010 at more than a dozen sites throughout the world. 300+ children will receive a bicycle and the training to maintain it.

88bikes is partnering with Free The Slaves and Touch A Life, two non-profit organizations dedicated to the eradication of slavery. A bike is that magical vessel of freedom and fun, the rare tool as useful as it is enjoyable. For these children–as all children–a bike will provide joy, freedom and autonomy. A bike will help each child get to school and explore her world. At certain locations 88bikes will set up on-site bike shops and sponsor in-depth bike repair apprenticeships. Every kid should have a bike!

You can support 88bikes Project4 by making a donation anytime at 88bikes.org. The cost of a bike is 88 dollars and it is totally tax-deductible. As every year, we’ll ask you to submit a photo of yourself, or the person in whose name the bike is donated, to give to your sponsored child, along with the bike. We’ll send you a packet in early 2010 with a picture of your sponsored child on her new bike holding your picture. If you’d like to buy the bike as a gift, you can print out a gift card at 88bikes.org. I am also happy to send along a handwritten 88bikes post card to your friend, introducing her to the project.

As always, 100% of every donation goes directly to the children. We don’t take salaries or keep office space and all project participants are volunteers. Jared and I will personally deliver the bikes to every location. Nick and several volunteers may join us for one or more legs of the journey.

Thanks for supporting 88bikes! As always, please drop me a note (dan@88bikes.org) if you have any questions. I’ll be thrilled to hear from you.

With enthusiasm,

Dan, Jared and Nick

88bikes.org


What’s Next for Chris Waddell and One Revolution?

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

One Revolution is Waddell's motto for this expedition, and his life. "One revolution means so many things to me. One revolution of the handcycle, one revolution of the earth, one lifetime, one moment, one chance to make a difference." One Revolution is also the name of the documentary which will capture Waddell's journey to the summit of Kilimanjaro. "The documentary is an important part of my climb, as my story is a visual one. People need to see to understand," explains Waddell.

Hello All,

What’s next? I guess climbing a 19,000-foot mountain begs that question and I intend to answer it, but first thank you all for following our efforts. It was so cool to get your emails and posts of encouragement. I am totally blown away by the number of you that followed us. I apologize for disappearing for a couple of days. There was no attempt to heighten the drama. We just lost of cell and satellite service in the crater. I’m sorry if any of you worried for our wellbeing.

This project started because I thought we could create social change about the way that we see ourselves and others. My platform is physical disability, but I hope it extends to include all of us who feel limited by what we or other people think. In September we made it to the top of the mountain, but we’ve barely scratched surface on creating social change. The answer to what’s next: hopefully a lot. Hopefully, we take our mission of “visibility and opportunity” to locations around the world the way that we did with Kili, but we have to finish this job first.

We plan to grow “Mobility Revolution”, our wheelchair and handcycle donation program. We’re still working on these parts. On the film side, we have shot 200 hours of footage, which needs to be cut into a 90-minute feature length documentary. Through that visual medium, we can capitalize on the momentum from the climb to create social change. It’s all about the “mo,” which is why I’ve been totally crazy since I returned from Africa.

On the flight home, I stopped in New York City to attend the Sports Legend Dinner for the Bunoconti Foundation. Later in the week I spoke to a group at Unicef and then did a press conference for the Utah press at Westminster College in Salt Lake City. October brought me to New Orleans for a presentation to TEAMS 2009, then to San Diego for the Challenged Athletes Foundation annual Triathlon and three Nametags presentations to La Jolla Country Day, then back to the East Coast for a day with ESPN (Firstake, News, and a Newsmakers presentation) in Bristol, and a trip to Boulder, Colorado for meetings with Warren Miller Entertainment about the film and possible partnerships. At the end of November I head to Monaco for Sports for Peace Conference hosted by Prince Albert.

Needless to say, it’s been crazy, but we did the climb to create a buzz—to hopefully get people to notice us and they have. We’ve done a ton of press, both local and National. I have also partnered with New York Times Best Selling Author, Don Yeager to write my story. We’re exploring alternate possibilities for the film such as creating a tour to take it and our Nametags presentation to communities throughout the country as soon as next fall. This would be in addition to film festivals and hopefully network television. Our biggest goal is to reach as many people as possible. The tour also represents a greater opportunity for sponsorship to help finish the film.

Next steps: We need to raise money and sponsorship to finish a rough cut for the film. We need to put together a tour, figure out partnerships, get a publisher for the book, and really make the change that we intend. It’s a lot of work, but the climb gives us a ton of momentum.

Thanks for your continued support and I hope you’ll continue to follow the Blog,

Chris Waddell

Bagel Friday at the Office with a Hybrid.Care Twist

Friday, November 13th, 2009

Every Friday we have a bagel breakfast for the entire office.  This Friday we did something a bit different…raising $2,000 for charities near and dear to KEEN employees.

Pebble Pedalers: Two Brothers Cycling 17,000 Miles to Raise Awareness of and Garner Support for Bristol Bay Watershed in Alaska

Monday, November 9th, 2009

Pebble Pedalers and KEEN ambassadors Seth and Parker Berling were featured on the CBS news a couple weeks ago.  Click on the image below to watch the video.

Pebble Pedalers

The Pebble Pedalers are trying to bring awareness to the Bristol Bay watershed up in Alaska, which is in danger of a mining operation. They are truly out there living the HybridLife.

About the Pebble Pedalers

In July 2009, the Pebble Pedalers, a two-man team of conservation-minded cyclists began a 17,000-mile journey to raise awareness of and garner support for protecting the Bristol Bay Watershed from the largest proposed open pit mine in North America. Riding through 15 countries—from Prudhoe Bay, the northernmost point accessible by road in Alaska, to Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of Argentina—we work towards preservation, protection and the restoration of watersheds throughout the Americas in partnership with Trout Unlimited.

350 River of Action: A Personal Account of International Day of Climate Action

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Hundreds of kayakers, paddle-boarders and canoeists gathered on the Willamette River Saturday in support of the International Day of Climate Action. Together, we joined our boats, creating “350” in the river, a representation of the 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that is the safe upper limit, according to leading scientists.

Check out this short video about the event…

Creating our 350 was NOT as easy as it sounds!! We’d get the “0” in perfect formation and the “5’s” would start drifting apart. We’d get the “3” picture perfect, and the “0” would be floating out of camera view. “EVERYONE PADDLE SOUTH” the mega-phoned guy on top of the bridge would blast, and we’d scramble south and re-form our numbers.

Photo by Julie Serres (5)

Portland provided a beautiful fall day, crisp sunshine, brilliant river; paddle boarders, gorillas and salmon kayakers. And regular folk like me, aboard a boat loaned from Alder Creek Kayaks, praying I don’t dump myself in the river. A diverse group of people with a love for paddling and a desire to become part of the International Climate Action. A desire to join up with concerned citizens around the world to face our most daunting challenge.

We laughed, joked and maneuvered our crafts around haphazardly, jostling each other into formation; somehow managing to get into a fairly decent representation of 350 before the 0’s floated downriver and under the bridge. The camaraderie and spirit of the event was wondrous. We could feel the energy from around the world as more than 5,000 other actions were taking place simultaneously. Rivers have currents, and this movement of climate action has current ~ joining together later in the afternoon with close to 1,000 citizens in Downtown Portland for another rally.

Photo by Mark Gamba

I work at KEEN; at KEEN we’re striving to be good corporate citizens, creating awareness while creating great outdoor product. It’s joining up with projects like this which make it good fun to be part of this team. Projects like this are important. THANK YOU ALDER CREEK for loaning me the BIG YELLOW KAYAK.

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The 350 River of Action event would not have been possible without the help of Naish, Epicocity Project, Alder Creek, Northwest River Guides, Next Adventure, NRS, The Kayak Shed, Mayor Sam Adams office, Mark Gamba, and many others who helped make this all possible.

Welcome KEEN Ambassador Quyen Nguyen!

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Quyen NguyenPicture to the left: Quyen Nguyen (in foreground) resting with friends. This photo was taken on their 4-day trek to Manchu Picchu.

We’d like to introduce you to our newest KEEN Ambassador Quyen Nguyen. Quyen truly embodies the Hybridlife. She has a deep appreciation for nature, wildlife, the outdoors and other cultures. Traveling, exploring and experiencing what our world has to offer while doing some good to make a difference in the lives of others is her passion. Quyen is an humanitarian at heart and spends most of her vacations traveling on her own to volunteer in different countries such as Peru, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mexico and Vietnam for starter…

She also recently won a week-long volunteer vacation at an animal rescue society near Cape Town, South Africa. The contest was sponsored by National Georgraphic Magazine and KEEN.

Below are  a few pictures from Quyen’s recent trip to Peru.  Visit Quyen’s blog to learn more about her experience in Peru.

Huchuy Yachaq, Quyen Nguyen

350 Kayaks for International Day of Climate Change on Saturday, October 24th

Monday, October 19th, 2009

350 river of actionKEEN is partnering with River of Action which will take place in Portland, Oregon, on October 24, 2009. River of Action is part of the International Day of Climate Change, an initiative of the nonprofit 350.org, which aims to bring attention and action to the global warming crisis.

National Geographic Young Explorer and KEEN Ambassador Andy Maser will lead the Portland event which will bring together paddlers of all kinds – kayakers, stand up paddle boarders, canoeists, etc. – to the Willamette River to form the image of the number 350. After the event, a photograph will be posted to the 350.org.

Click here to listen to Kink.Fm podcast with our main man James Curleigh. He spoke about the River of Action.

The event is open to all paddlers. To join in, participants should meet at the Portland Boathouse (1515 SE Water Avenue; just north of OMSI) at 11:00 AM. The organizers encourage people to bring their own boats and equipment but there will be a limited number kayaks and gear available on a first come, first serve basis for those who don’t have their own.

The Portland River of Action is one of many similar gatherings taking place on local waterways across North America on October 24. For additional information about River of Action click here.

Council for Responsible Sport Hosted Its First Green Tie Event at KEEN

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
Climate Trust Policy Associate_Shanna Brownstein

Climate Trust Policy Associate Shanna Brownstein networking at the event hosted by KEEN.

The Council for Responsible Sport (”ReSport”) hosted the organization’s first Green Tie Event “Sustainable Inspiration” at KEEN in August. KEEN and Barran Liebman were the primary sponsors of the evening gala, both embodying the values of community, civic engagement, and environmental stewardship.

The Event raised over $5,000 dollars, an amount which will be instrumental in furthering the mission of ReSport to establish a new standard of environmental and social responsibility for sport.

The night was filled with announcements of new partnerships to the ReSport community including Bonneville Environmental Foundation (b-e-f.org) and Search for the Ultimate Athlete (searchfortheultimateathlete.com) as well as dynamic conversations amongst guests, including former Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, KPOJ morninghost Christine Alexander, and many of Portland’s top business and sustainability leaders.

The evening presented attendees with the opportunity to bid on a myriad auction items as well as enjoy a keynote presentation by Darcy Winslow, Founder of DWS Collective LLC, Designs for a Sustainable World. Darcy spoke about her recent voyage to Antarctica and reiterated the opening remarks from ReSport’s Executive Director, Marisa McGilliard, on the personal responsibility we all have in bringing about change. Both women emphasized that promulgating fundamental shifts in society towards a more sustainable future is about inspired innovation and unprecedented collaboration.

To find out more about the Council for Responsible Sport, please visit Resport.org, twitter.com/ReSport or email marisa@resport.org.

ArtCrank Kicks Off Oregon Manifest, A Six-Week Celebration of Bike Culture

Monday, October 5th, 2009

ArtCrank was a bicycle art poster show/sale recently held in downtown Portland, Ore.  All posters were priced at $30 and ArtCrank donated $5 from every poster sold to Bikes To Rwanda.  The event generated over $6,000 in sales. Bikes To Rwanda’s aim is to provide cargo bicycles to co-operative coffee farmers in Rwanda. Along with the posters, KEEN had on display its bicycling specific collection of shoes, bags and socks.  ArtCrank officially kicked off Oregon Manifest, a six-week celebration of bike culture.

Read more about ArtCrank here.

One Revolution Approaching Summit of Mount Kilimanjaro

Monday, September 28th, 2009

OneRevKili

Writing from 18-thousand feet on what promises to be a pretty chilly evening. Left at 6am with a variety of expectations. Consensus had us staying at Hans-Meyer. That looked optimistic after our first adventure on the winch. The first quarter mile took about an hour and a half. Soon thereafter we moved to the boards and picked up the pace considerably. I decided to push on past Hans-Meyer at just past 12:30.

Some of the terrain that I rode on the boards absolutely amazed me. I had thoughts of sleeping in the crater. Then we started the push past Gilman’s Point. As I rode the boards, my front wheels became light – something I thought I would only experience on slick rock.
As I covered the last 50 yards in at least a half hour, I had the vague thought that this must be what it is like to drown within reach of shore.

The days end mocked me as I attempted to reach in two to four foot increments. Bob, Nate and I are snuggled into our tent 18-thousand feet. The line of sun long departed up and the temperature is dropping, the wind rising and we are optimistic for a summit push tomorrow.

- Chris Waddell

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You can follow Chris Waddell as he attempts to be the first paraplegic to summit Mount Kilimanjaro unassisted. His blog will be updated often as he makes his way to the top of the 19,340 foot high mountain with arm power alone.