Archive for the ‘People & Places’ Category
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Friday, November 20th, 2009You Can Help Distribute Bikes to Orphans in Ghana, India, Nepal and Vietnam
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009Dear 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
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
My KEEN Story on Robinson Crusoe Island
Thursday, November 12th, 2009From: Stefan Springman
Subject: My Keen StoryDear KEEN,
I’ve been having some foot issues that have recently forced me to give up running and bought a pair of KEENs [called the Alyeska] to wear around the house while my foot heels. I’m a documentary producer/director and was a bit worried about how my foot would fair while working on a project I’m producing for The History Channel on a remote island in the Pacific called Robinson Crusoe Island (Really!). My crew is young and tough and we would be spending long days humping heavy gear over rugged mountains and I was worried about whether I could keep up. I threw my KEENs in my backpack at the last minute thinking I could use ‘em to give my ol’ dogs a rest around the campfire at night. But after a few days of climbing around El Yunque — my expensive Italian climbing boots became a pair of torture devices and I was forced to switch to my KEEN slippers even for some quite hairy rock climbing. I just wanted to write to you and say the KEENs were great! My foot pain went away and I didn’t fall off the mountain (or even come close).
Stefan Springman
NFGTV
Fixing a Bike at the Office
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009Jevon’s past life as a bike mechanic comes in handy at our office. Fellow KEEN employee Jason needs a bit of work done on his bike.
KEEN 101: History, Biochemistry and English
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
From Left, Brenda VanDevelder, Jeff Jimerson, Jonathan Curry, and Kristina Ender listen to keynote speaker James Curleigh, of Portland during the Willamette Innovators Night Thursday evening at the CH2M Hill Alumni center. (Jesse Skoubo/Gazette Times)
Our President and CEO James Curleigh was the keynote speaker at the Willamette Innovators Night, which took place at Oregon State University on November 5th. Willamette Innovators Night (formerly High Tech After Hours) brings together the Willamette Valleys most innovative companies and organizations to share, learn, and connect.
Tabor Restuarant - Home of the Original Czech Schnitzelwich
Friday, November 6th, 2009Czech Republic food makes its way to the Pacific Northwest. Tabor Restuarant is home to the Original Schnitzelwich. If you’re a meat eater, then the schnitzelwich is for you.
The Late Show with David Letterman and the KEEN Arroyo
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009On 10/30/09, David Letterman gives a ’shout out’ to Portland, Oregon and the KEEN Arroyo. Click on the image below to see the video footage. The excerpt begins at minute 8:40 and ends at minute 9:36.
Catching up with STAND winner Toby Atticus Fraley- Found Object Artist
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009When you think of objects like picnic coolers, vacuum parts, ski poles or coffee thermoses the word art normally doesn’t come to mind. Not unless you’re Toby Fraley. This Pittsburgh area artist finds inspiration in vintage objects found at yard sales, flea markets, estate sales, or on eBay auctions. With the objects he finds, Fraley has created a collection of art called the Robot Series. The robots are created from random objects such as vintage picnic coolers, vacuum parts and numerous miscellaneous odd items.
When it comes to finding material, Fraley says he looks for form and material first. Most vintage pieces he uses have nice, clean styles to them and are commonly made from aluminum and steel which will still hold up in the years to come. He says he avoids using some vintage plastics due to their fragileness and discoloration. Rarely will Fraley find items in mint condition so he has to be sure that they will clean up or repair well enough to use before purchasing.
It takes roughly between two to four weeks to build a single robot. Each robot stands approximately 36-48 inches tall and is wired to light up. Robots are named for the numerical order in which they are built. Two of the robots (Robots 3 and 12) are actually in separate private collections of Grammy Award winning musicians. Fraley also has a public art exhibit of robots 31-34 (“Robots in Flight”) permanently on display at the Civic Center in Scottsdale, Arizona. Recently, the Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital has commissioned him to create seven pieces for entrance corridor in their new hospital.
Toby Fraley has supported himself as an artist full-time since 2001. He began going to school for art but soon discovered that self-teaching was far more beneficial. Today he participates in a local art show (The Three Rivers Arts Festival) and a wholesale show in Philadelphia (Buyers Market of American Craft) and the bulk of his projects come from public art and private commissions.
Last Year, Fraley was a runner-up in KEEN’s STAND contest in the Stand Up (Create) category. He was awarded $5,000 for his creative repurposing of found objects into art, which he put to use by buying more “junk”. To see more of his robots, as well other various works of art he creates, check out www.tobyatticusfraley.com
The Hybrid.STAND contest was a KEEN intiative that awarded $150,000 to fund different innovative ideas centered around sustainability. There were three overall categories, Stand Up, Stand Out and Stand For, each having a $25,000 grand prize and five $5,000 runner-up prizes.
Libraries Being Used? Hear What Washington County Librarians Think . . .
Monday, November 2nd, 2009Last week, six librarians (who are huge KEEN fans) from Washington County Cooperative Library Services came by to visit us. Watch this short video to hear what they have to say (and sing!) about libraries.
They even made us a wonderful thank-you poster . . .





































